StrongerBible

terumah

תְּרוּמָה

HebrewH8641“heave offering, contribution, ...”

Appears 76 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Exo 25:2 (2×)Exo 25:3Exo 29:27Exo 29:28 (3×)Exo 30:13Exo 30:14Exo 30:15Exo 35:5 (2×)Exo 35:21Exo 35:24 (2×)Exo 36:3Exo 36:6Lev 7:14Lev 7:32Lev 7:34Lev 10:14Lev 22:12Num 15:20Num 18:8Num 18:11Num 18:19Num 18:26Num 18:27Num 18:28Deu 12:112Sa 1:21Neh 10:37(38)Neh 12:44Pro 29:4Ezk 20:40Ezk 44:30
Word studyResearch-gradeteh-roo-MAHnoun

What terumah means

a portion set apart from a larger whole and handed over to God, whether a gift, a sacred share of a sacrifice, a levy, or a reserved tract of land

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintyStrong

At its heart this word names something taken out of a larger amount and transferred to God or his sanctuary. The defining move is the separating: a person sets aside part of what is his, lifts it off the rest, and from that point it is no longer common but holy. What unites every use is a change of ownership, from the giver to the LORD and from the LORD to the priests who serve him.

That one idea fans out by setting.

  • When the people build the tabernacle, it is the freewill gift each person brings.
  • When an animal is sacrificed, it is the specific cut reserved for the priests.
  • When a census is taken or a war is won, it is the fixed share levied off the top for the LORD.
  • In the later books it hardens into a standing temple due, grain and silver warehoused for the priests.
  • In Ezekiel's vision of the restored land it even becomes a tract of ground marked off as holy, the sacred district set aside for the temple and its servants.
  • The same word can finally turn sour, naming a strongman's forced exactions.

The old English rendering "heave offering" tried to capture an idea that the gift was physically lifted up and down. But land cannot be hoisted, and neither can warehoused grain or weighed-out silver, yet all of these are called by this word. So the term cannot be naming a gesture. It marks a status: something reserved, dedicated, made over to God. Once that is grasped, the donation, the priestly share, the levy, the holy allotment, and even the wrongful exaction are plainly the same word doing the same work in different rooms of Israel's life.

Nuances

1aa freewill gift contributed for building and furnishing the sanctuary
Exo 25:2 (2×)Exo 25:3Exo 35:5 (2×)Exo 35:21Exo 35:24 (2×)Exo 36:3Exo 36:6
1bthe share of a sacrifice reserved for the priests, and the standing dues owed them
Exo 29:27Exo 29:28 (3×)Lev 7:14Lev 7:32Lev 7:34Lev 10:14Lev 10:15Lev 22:12Num 5:9Num 6:20Num 18:8Num 18:11
1ca levy taken off the top of a census payment, spoil, or produce as the LORD's fixed share
Exo 30:13Exo 30:14Exo 30:15Num 31:29Num 31:41Num 31:52Ezk 45:13Ezk 45:16
1da tract of land set apart as holy: the sacred district reserved for the temple, the priests, and the city
Ezk 45:1Ezk 45:6Ezk 45:7Ezk 48:8Ezk 48:9Ezk 48:10Ezk 48:12Ezk 48:18Ezk 48:20Ezk 48:21
1ea contribution dedicated to God spoken of in general, including the standing temple dues warehoused for the priests in the later books
Deu 12:6Deu 12:11Deu 12:172Ch 31:102Ch 31:12Ezr 8:25Neh 10:37(38)Neh 10:39Neh 12:44Neh 13:5Ezk 20:40Ezk 44:30
1fwhat is wrongly taken: a forced exaction or bribe extracted from others
Pro 29:4

What scholars say about terumah

The standard lexica treat תְּרוּמָה as a single deverbal noun from the root רום (to be high, to lift), denoting a portion lifted off, separated, and dedicated to God. BDB already in 1906 led with contribution and the parenthetical something lifted off, separated, anticipating later philology. The decisive reframing came from Jacob Milgrom (Studies in Levitical Terminology; Leviticus 1-16 AB; Numbers JPS), who argued on four grounds that the term denotes dedication rather than a ritual gesture: many objects so designated (land in Ezekiel 45 and 48, bullion in Ezra 8:25, warehoused grain in Nehemiah, even oppressive exactions in Proverbs 29:4) cannot be physically heaved; the cognate verb in cultic Hebrew means to set apart from rather than to elevate; the Akkadian noun tarimtu(m), a granted or donated object, is a parallel formation; and the ancient versions gloss by separation (Targum aphrashuta, Septuagint aphairema and aparche). Milgrom inverts the rabbinic scheme, taking תְּנוּפָה rather than תְּרוּמָה as the elevation rite, with the rule that all elevation offerings are contributions but not all contributions are elevation offerings. This reading is now embedded in HALOT, DCH, TDOT, NIDOTTE, and TLOT, and is reflected in NJPS and recent commentaries (Levine renders sacred gift, Block and Allen render sacred reserve or sacred reservation for Ezekiel's territory). Genuine uncertainties remain: the precise relationship of the Akkadian noun to the Hebrew, the absence of a secure Ugaritic cognate, the reading of Exodus 29:27 (which calls one portion by both terms), and the diachronic question of whether the fiscal sense was already implicit in early Priestly usage. Traditional rabbinic and some conservative exegesis still defend the heave-offering gesture-etymology.

Where scholars disagree about terumah

Whether the word names something physically lifted up in a ritual gesture (the older heave-offering view) or simply a portion set apart and handed over to God.

  • majorityThe word denotes dedication, what is removed from a larger whole and made over to God, with no ritual gesture in view. The decisive evidence is that it is used for things that cannot be lifted at all, such as tracts of land, weighed silver, and stored grain. This is now the standard view in critical scholarship and the major lexica.; Jacob Milgrom, Leviticus 1-16 (Anchor Bible 3; Doubleday, 1991), 461-481; HALOT, s.v. תְּרוּמָה; H.-J. Fabry and H.-P. Stahli, rum, in Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, vol. 13
  • minorityThe traditional understanding ties the word to a ritual elevation of the gift, hence heave offering, paired with the wave offering. This rests on the rabbinic distinction of two directional gestures and is still defended in traditional and some conservative exegesis.; Mishnah Menahot 5:6; Rashi at Exodus 29:24-27
In-depth research

This is a research paper, so it may be hard to read without scholarly background. It is useful if you want to dig even deeper into this word.

Sources

  • BDB, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), 929-30, s.v. תְּרוּמָהlexicon
  • HALOT, s.v. תְּרוּמָהlexicon
  • DCH, ed. Clines, s.v. תְּרוּמָהlexicon
  • Jacob Milgrom, Leviticus 1-16 (Anchor Bible 3; Doubleday, 1991), 461-481commentary
  • Jacob Milgrom, Numbers (JPS Torah Commentary, 1990), Excursus 60commentary
  • H.-J. Fabry and H.-P. Stahli, rum, in Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, vol. 13dictionary
  • Daniel I. Block, The Book of Ezekiel, Chapters 25-48 (NICOT, 1998), 721-736commentary
  • Baruch A. Levine, Numbers 1-20 (Anchor Bible 4; Doubleday, 1993)commentary

AI-generated word study · claude-opus-4-8

All attested forms of תְּרוּמָה

f s construct

תְּרוּמַת, תְרֻמַת

Exo 30:14, Exo 30:15, Exo 35:5, Exo 35:21, Exo 35:24, Exo 35:24, Exo 36:6, Lev 22:12

f s absolute

תְּרוּמָה

Exo 25:2, Exo 25:3, Exo 29:27, Exo 29:28, Exo 29:28, Exo 30:13, Exo 35:5, Exo 36:3

f p absolute

תְּרוּמוֹת, תְרוּמֹת

Neh 12:44, Pro 29:4, 2Sa 1:21

f p construct

תְּרוּמוֹתֵיכֶם, תְּרוּמֹתֵיכֶם

Ezk 44:30, Ezk 20:40

f p construct

תְּרוּמֹת

Num 18:19

f p construct

תְרוּמֹתֵינוּ

Neh 10:37

f p construct

תְּרוּמֹתָי

Num 18:8

f s construct

תְּרוּמָתִי

Exo 25:2

f s construct

תְּרוּמַתְכֶם

Num 18:27

f s construct

תְּרוּמָתָם

Exo 29:28