טָמֵא
ṭâmêʼ · H2931 · Hebrew · 88 occurrences
Meanings
-
unclean
State in which humans, animals, or objects are regarded by the law as having been contaminated, as a result of which they cannot participate in social and religious activities
ExamplesLeviticus 5:2 ‘Or if a person touches any unclean thing, whether a carcass of an unclean animal, or the carcass of unclean cattle, or a carcass of unclean swarming things, though it is hidden from him and he is unclean, then he will be guilty.
Leviticus 7:19 ‘Also the flesh that touches anything unclean shall not be eaten; it shall be burned with fire. As for other flesh, anyone who is clean may eat such flesh.
Leviticus 7:21 ‘When anyone touches anything unclean, whether human uncleanness, or an unclean animal, or any unclean detestable thing, and eats of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings which belong to the LORD, that person shall be cut off from his people.’”
-
impure, unclean
State in which humans have been morally and/or ethically contaminated by evil behavior
ExamplesJob 14:4 “Who can make the clean out of the unclean? No one!
Isaiah 6:5 Then I said, “Woe to me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of armies.”
Isaiah 35:8 A highway will be there, a roadway, And it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean will not travel on it, But it will be for the one who walks that way, And fools will not wander on it.
How it’s used In 8 roles
Every occurrence, grouped by the words it is grammatically related to.
the word studied the word it goes with
Whose, or of whatGenitive or possessive
4 occurrences in 3 groups
- נֶפֶשׁsoul, life 2
- נִדָּהimpurity 1
- שֵׁםname 1
Named alongside itApposition
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- רַבmany, great 1
What it doesIt is the subject
7 occurrences in 4 groups
- אָכַלto eat, to devour 2
- נָגַעto touch 2
- בּוֹאto come, to go in, to bring 2
- עָבַרto pass 1
What is done to itIt is the object
12 occurrences in 6 groups
- הָיָהto be, to become 6
- אָכַלto eat, to devour 2
- נָגַעto touch 1
- עָנָהto afflict, to humble 1
- קָרָאto call, to cry out 1
- שָׁלַחto send, to send away 1
What it is said to bePredicate
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- זֶהthis 1
What is said to be itIt is the predicate
30 occurrences in 5 groups
- הוּאhe, she, it 21
- הֵםthey, them 6
- אֵלֶּהthese 1
- אֲנַחְנוּwe 1
- אֶרֶץland, earth, ground 1
After prepositionsPrepositional phrases
15 occurrences in 7 groups
- בin/on/with 7
- לto/for 4
- בֵּיןbetween, among 4
- מִןfrom 2
- עַלon, upon, over, against 2
- עִםwith 2
In phrases “… of it”It is the genitive
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- יוֹםday, time 1
When two words share a role, as in “Paul and Barnabas said”, the verse appears under each, so a section’s counts can add up to more than the number of occurrences.
MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.
Contrasting words 1 word
- טָהוֹר ṭâhôwr · H2889 · clean
- The direct lexical opposite of טָהוֹר, denoting ritual or moral defilement/uncleanness.
In the other Testament 1 word
- ἀκάθαρτος akáthartos · G169 · defiled, ritually unclean
- Greek ἀκάθαρτος directly renders Hebrew טָמֵא across ceremonial, moral, and spiritual contexts of ritual impurity and defilement, serving as the standard LXX translation equivalent for the Hebrew term's full semantic range.
Semantic domains 2 entries
- Unclean002001001066
- טָמֵא (adjectival form) describes something ritually unclean, as the unclean carcass or unclean animal a person must not touch without becoming defiled (Leviticus 5:2, 7:19, 21).
- Evil002001002007
- The word can extend to a broader moral sense of vileness or infamy, an uncleanness bound up with wickedness rather than mere ritual status.
Word family 3 words
Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.
Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon H2931. tame II. טָמֵא adjective unclean; — ׳ט Lev 5:2 58t.; construct טְמֵא Lev 22:4 Lev…
II. טָמֵא adjective unclean; — ׳ט Lev 5:2 58t.; construct טְמֵא Lev 22:4 Lev 22:3t.; feminine טְמֵאָה Lev 5:2 Lev 5:11t.; construct טְמֵאַת Eze 22:5, Eze 22:10; plural טְמֵאִים Lev 11:8 Lev 11:10t.; — unclean,
1 ethically and religiously ׳ט שׂפתים Isa 6:5 (twice in verse) unclean of lips; ׳ט השׁם Eze 22:5 defiled of name, infamous; מִטּ ׳טהור Job 14:4.
2 ritually:
a. of persons, || טהור Deu 12:15, Deu 12:22; Deu 15:22; Ecc 9:2; ׳ט נפשׁ Lev 22:4 (H); (אדם) ׳ט לנפשׁ unclean for a (dead) person Num 5:2; Num 9:6-7, Num 9:10 (P) = ׳ט נפשׁ Hag 2:13; elsewhere for various reasons Deu 26:14; Lev 5:2; Lev 13:11, Lev 13:16, Lev 13:44, Lev 13:45 (twice in verse); Lev 13:46; Lev 15:2, Lev 15:25, Lev 15:33; Num 19:13, Num 19:17, Num 19:19, Num 19:20, Num 19:22 (all P), 2Ch 23:19; Isa 64:5; Eze 4:13; Eze 22:10; Lam 4:15.
b. of animals Lev 5:2 (4 t. in verse); Lev 7:21 (twice in verse); Lev 11:4-5, Lev 11:6, Lev 11:7, Lev 11:8, Lev 11:26, Lev 11:27, Lev 11:28, Lev 11:29, Lev 11:31; Lev 27:11, Lev 27:27; Num 18:15 (all P), Lev 20:25 (twice in verse) (H), Deu 14:7-8, Deu 14:10, Deu 14:19.
c. of things in Gen. Lev 11:35 (twice in verse); Lev 11:38; Lev 15:26; Num 19:15 (all P), Isa 52:11; food Jdg 13:4; Hos 9:3; houses Jer 19:13; leprosy Lev 13:15, Lev 13:51, Lev 13:55; Lev 14:44, Lev 14:57 (P); offering Hag 2:14.
d. persons and things in General טמא כל Lev 7:19, Lev 7:21 (P); הט בין ׳הבדיל הטהור ובין Lev 10:10; Lev 11:47; (ה)ט בין ׳הודיע לטהור Eze 22:26; Eze 44:23; of aliens Isa 52:1 (|| עָרֵל), perhaps also Isa 35:8.
3 specifically of places: ט ׳מקום unclean place (place of refuse away from holy place and human habitation) Lev 14:40-41, Lev 14:45 (P); ארץ טמאה land on the east of the Jordan separated from the land of the tabernacle of ׳י Jos 22:19 (P); so ט ׳אדמה a foreign land Amo 7:17.
Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), public domain
Topical studies with this word 2 entries
Meanings adapted from the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament, © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0 and the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew (from the Semantic Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew), © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0; MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.
Sources
eRhema lexical overview, based on the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew and the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (© United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Macula Hebrew and Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0); released under CC BY-SA 4.0
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