H1564 H1564
embryo, unformed substance (of fetal development)
This remarkable word appears in Psalm 139's meditation on divine foreknowledge, where the psalmist marvels that God saw his 'unformed substance' before birth. The term evokes the earliest stage of human development, before limbs and features take shape. The rabbinic tradition connected this word to the 'golem' of later Jewish mysticism—formless matter waiting to receive form through divine creative power.
Sentidos
1. sense 1 — Psalm 139:16 uses this term to express wonder at God's prenatal knowledge: 'Your eyes saw my unformed substance.' The word suggests not just an embryo but the very beginning of human formation, when the future person exists only as potential. Across languages, translators reach for medical terms (Spanish 'embrión') or descriptive phrases ('unformed substance'). The Aramaic cognate referred to unfinished vessels, capturing the sense of something begun but not yet complete—perfectly describing fetal development as the psalmist understands God's loving attention from the very start. 1×
AR["جُثَّتِي"]·ben["ভ্রূণ-আমার"]·DE["mein-unformed-substance"]·EN["my-unformed-substance"]·FR["embryon"]·heb["גולמי"]·HI["मेरा-आकारहीन-पिण्ड"]·ID["Bentukku-yang-belum-jadi"]·IT["[גלמי]"]·jav["Embrio-kula"]·KO["나-의-형체-를"]·PT["Meu-embrião"]·RU["зародыш-мой"]·ES["Mi-embrión"]·SW["umbo-langu-ambalo-halikuwa-na-umbo"]·TR["biçimsiz-halimi"]·urd["میرے-بےڈھنگے-جسم-کو"]
Sentidos Relacionados
H7200 1. Qal: to see, perceive (1257×)G4771 2. you (singular address) (1077×)H8085 1. Qal: hear, perceive aurally (921×)H0859a 1. you (2nd person masculine singular pronoun) (743×)H0398 1. eat (consume food) (697×)H4191 1. die (Qal: natural/general death) (645×)G3708 1. see, perceive visually (419×)G0191 1. hear, perceive sound (360×)H???? 3. (352×)G3708 2. behold, look (exclamatory) (256×)H7272 1. foot (body part) (236×)H8354 1. drink, consume liquid (209×)H3205 1. Qal active: bear/give birth (female subject) (204×)H3205 2. Qal active: beget/father (male subject) (198×)H2421 1. Qal: live, be alive (177×)H8085 2. Qal: listen, heed, pay attention (172×)H2416a 1. alive, living (state/attribute) (146×)H2416e 1. life, lifespan, lifetime (145×)G2198 1. be alive, have life (133×)H8193 1. lip, lips (body part) (123×)
Referencia BDB / Léxico
† [גֹּ֫לֶם] n.[m.] embryo (NH גּוֹלֶם, Aramaic גּוֹלְמָא, unfinished vessel), גָּלְמִי רָאוּ עֵינֶיךָ ψ 139:16 mine imperfect substance (RV) did thine eyes see.