1. mute, unable to speak — An adjective describing the inability to speak, used both literally and figuratively in the Hebrew Bible. In its literal sense it describes a physical condition of speechlessness, as in Exodus 4:11 where God asks who makes a person mute (אִלֵּם), and in Proverbs 31:8 where the righteous are urged to speak up for the mute. Figuratively, it describes watchmen who are like mute dogs that cannot bark (Isa 56:10), a psalmist who became like a mute person in silence (Ps 38:14), and the tongue of the mute that will shout for joy in the messianic age (Isa 35:6). All four clusters represent the same adjectival sense, with differences arising only from syntactic context (bare adjective, with prepositions ל or כ, or genitive construction), not from genuinely distinct meanings. The multilingual glosses consistently render this as 'mute/dumb' across Arabic (أَخْرَس/أَبْكَم), German (stumm/mute), Hindi (गूँगा), Korean (벙어리), and Spanish (mudo). 6×
AR["أَبْكَمَ","أَخْرَسَ","بُكماً","خُرْسٌ","لِ-الأَخْرَسِ","وَكَ-أَبْكَمَ"]·ben["-বোবার-জন্য","ও-যেমন-বোবা","বোবা","বোবার"]·DE["Elam","[אלמים]","[לאלם]","mute","und-wie-ein-stumm"]·EN["and-like-a-mute","for-the-mute","mute","of-the-mute"]·FR["[אלמים]","et-muet","muet","mute","Élam","à-לאלם"]·heb["אילם","אילמים","ו-כ-אילם","ל-אילם"]·HI["और-जैसे-गूँगा","गू̃गा","गूँगी","गूँगे","गूँगे-की","गूँगे-के-लिए"]·ID["bisu","orang-bisu","untuk-yang-bisu","yang-bisu?"]·IT["Elam","[אלמים]","[וכאלם]","mute","per-per-il-mute"]·jav["bisu","ilat","kanggé-tiyang-bisu","lan-kados-tiyang-bisu"]·KO["그리고-벙어리-같이","말못하는","벙어리를","벙어리인","벼어리의","벼어리인을-위해"]·PT["e-como-mudo","mudo","mudos","pelo-mudo"]·RU["за-немого","и-как-немой","немого","немые","немым","немых"]·ES["del-mudo","mudo","mudos","por-el-mudo","y-como-mudo"]·SW["bubu","kwa-bubu","na-kama-bubu","wa-bubu"]·TR["dilsiz","dilsiz-için","dilsizin","ve-dilsiz-gibi"]·urd["اور-گونگے-کی-طرح","کے-لیے-گونگے","گونگا","گونگے","گونگے-کی"]
Senses
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† אִלֵּם adj. dumb, unable to speak; Ex 4:11 מִי שָׂם פֶּה לָֽאָדָם אוֹ מִי יָשׂוּם אִלֵּם; Is 56:10 כְּלָבִים אִלְּמִים fig. of false proph.; of idols אֱלִילִים א׳ Hb 2:18; as subst. Pr 31:8 ψ 38:14 Is 35:6.