H3816 H3816
People, nation — a poetic term for ethnic or tribal communities, often parallel to gôy and ʿam
A poetic noun for 'people' or 'nation,' used almost exclusively in elevated discourse — prophecy, psalms, and blessings. It appears in parallel with gôy ('nation') and ʿam ('people') but carries its own distinct flavor, often evoking the nations in their collective identity before God. Its earliest occurrence is in the oracle over Jacob and Esau: 'two peoples (lĕʾummîm) are in your womb' (Gen 25:23). Isaiah uses it to summon the coastland peoples to hear God's word (Isa 41:1; 49:1), and the Psalms employ it in both judgment (Ps 2:1) and praise (Ps 67:5) contexts. Spanish 'pueblos/naciones' and French 'peuple/nation' reflect the same semantic range.
Senses
1. people, nation — A people or nation as an ethnic community — the primary lexical sense covering virtually all occurrences. Used in singular for Israel (Isa 51:4, 'my nation') or for individual peoples like Edom (Gen 25:23), and in the plural for the nations at large (Ps 2:1, 'Why do the peoples rage?'; Isa 34:1). The multilingual evidence — Spanish 'pueblos,' French 'peuple/nation,' German 'Völker/Nationen' — consistently renders it as a collective ethnic term. The word is distinctly poetic; prose equivalents would be gôy or ʿam. 35×
AR["-الشُّعُوبَ", "أَيُّهَا-الأُمَمُ", "الأُمَم", "الأُمَمِ", "الشُّعوب", "الشُّعُوبَ", "الشُّعُوبُ", "الشُّعُوبِ", "لِلشُّعُوبِ", "لِلْأُمَمِ", "وَ-الأُمَمَ-", "وَ-الأُمَمُ", "وَ-يَا-أُمَّتِي", "وَ-يَا-شُعُوبُ", "وَأُمَمًا", "وَالشُّعُوبُ", "وَالْأُمَمُ", "وَشَعْبٌ", "وَشُعُوبًا"]·ben["-এবং-আমার-লোকেরা", "-রাষ্ট্রগুলির", "আর-জনগণেরা", "এবং-জনগণ", "এবং-জনগণকে", "এবং-জাতিগুলি", "ও-জনগণেরা", "ও-জাতিগণকে", "ও-জাতিগুলোকে", "জনগণকে", "জনগণের", "জনগোষ্ঠীগুলি", "জাতিগুলিকে", "জাতিগুলির", "জাতিগুলির-জন্য", "জাতিদের", "হে-জাতিগণ"]·DE["Nationen", "Volk", "Völker", "[ולאמים]", "und-Nationen", "und-Volk", "und-der-Nationen", "und-ein-Volk"]·EN["and-O-peoples", "and-a-people", "and-my-nation", "and-nations", "and-peoples", "and-the-nations", "nations", "peoples", "the-peoples", "to-peoples"]·FR["et-nation", "et-peuple", "et-un-peuple", "et-à-nation", "nation", "peuple", "peuples"]·heb["אומים", "ו-לאומי", "ו-לאומים", "ו-לאם", "ל-אומים", "לאומים"]·HI["और-कौम", "और-कौमें", "और-जातियाँ", "और-जातियों", "और-जातियों-को", "और-मेरी-जाति", "और-राज्य-राज्य-के-लोगों-को", "जातियाँ", "जातियो", "जातियों", "जातियों-में", "जातियोंको", "लोगों", "लोगों-का", "लोगों-की"]·ID["bagi-bangsa-bangsa", "bagi-kaum-kaum", "bangsa-bangsa", "dan-bangsa-Ku", "dan-bangsa-bangsa", "dan-kaum", "dan-suku-suku", "dan-suku-suku-bangsa", "suku-suku", "suku-suku-bangsa"]·IT["[ולאמים]", "e-nazione", "e-popolo", "e-un-popolo", "nazione", "popolo"]·jav["bangsa-bangsa", "kangge-bangsa-bangsa", "lan", "lan-bangsa-Ingsun", "lan-bangsa-bangsa", "lan-kaum", "lan-para-bangsa", "lan-para-umat", "nggegirisi", "para-bangsa", "para-kaum", "para-suku", "saha-bangsa-bangsa", "umat-umat"]·KO["그리고-나라-들-을", "그리고-나의-민족아", "그리고-민족-들이", "그리고-민족들-을", "그리고-민족들아", "그리고-민족들을", "그리고-민족들이", "그리고-민족들이여", "그리고-백성이", "나라-들-의", "민족들", "민족들과", "민족들아", "민족들에게", "민족들을", "민족들이", "백성들-을", "백성들-의"]·PT["a-povos", "as-nações", "de-povos", "dos-povos", "e-as-nações", "e-minha-nação", "e-nações", "e-povo", "e-povos", "nações", "os-povos", "povos"]·RU["и-народ", "и-народы", "и-племена", "и-племя-Моё", "народам", "народов", "народы", "племена", "племенам", "племенами", "племён"]·ES["a-los-pueblos", "a-pueblos", "las-naciones", "pueblos", "y-las-naciones", "y-mi-nación", "y-naciones", "y-pueblo", "y-pueblos"]·SW["kwa-mataifa", "mataifa", "na-makabila", "na-mataifa", "na-taifa-langu", "na-taifa-moja"]·TR["halklar", "halklara", "halklara-", "halklari", "halkların", "halktan", "milletler", "milletlerin", "uluslar", "ulusların", "ve-halklari", "ve-milletleri", "ve-uluslar", "ve-ulusları", "ve-ulusum"]·urd["امتوں-میں", "امتوں-کی", "اور-امتو", "اور-اُمتیں", "اور-قوم", "اور-قوموں-کو", "اور-قومیں", "اور-میری-امت", "اُمتوں-کی", "اُمَّتوں", "اے-قومو", "قومو", "قوموں-کا", "قوموں-کو", "قوموں-کے-لیے", "لوگ", "وَ-قوموں-کو"]
2. among (peoples) — A quasi-adverbial usage within a prepositional phrase meaning 'among the peoples' (Ps 44:14), where the word functions less as an independent noun and more as part of a locative expression. The translations — English 'among,' Spanish 'entre,' German 'unter' — reduce the noun to a relational particle, though the underlying sense of 'peoples' remains. 1×
AR["في-"]·ben["মধ্যে-"]·DE["unter"]·EN["among"]·FR["ne...pas"]·heb["בל-"]·HI["में"]·IT["non"]·jav["ing"]·KO["-아니"]·PT["entre-os"]·RU["среди"]·ES["entre"]·SW["miongoni-mwa"]·TR["-arasında"]·urd["بغیر"]
Related Senses
H3808 1. simple negation (not) (4839×)G1722 1. locative: in, within (2442×)H1004b 1. house, dwelling, building (2015×)H5971a 1. people, nation (1836×)G3756 1. not (negation particle) (1635×)H4480a 1. source or separation (1198×)H5892b 1. city, town (1093×)G1519 1. direction: into, to, toward (1061×)H5973a 1. accompaniment, together with (956×)H3427 1. Qal: to dwell, inhabit (937×)G1537 1. from, out of (source/origin) (886×)H8034 1. Name (designation / identifier) (856×)G3361 1. subjective negation (not) (834×)G1909 1. on, upon (spatial surface) (757×)H0369 1. existential negation: there is not (738×)H5869a 1. in the eyes/sight of (evaluative) (734×)H5650 1. Servant, attendant, subject (723×)H0408 1. prohibitive negation do-not (712×)G2443 1. so that, in order that (purpose/result) (665×)H0854 1. with (accompaniment) (665×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† לְאֹם, לְאוֹם n.m. Gn 25:23 people, poet. and chiefly late;—ל׳ abs. Gn 25:23(×2) Pr 14:28, לְאוֹם Pr 11:26; sf. לְאוּמִּו Is 51:4; pl. לְאֻמִּים Gn 25:23 + 28 times; לְאוּמִּים Is 55:4;—people, both of Isr. and of Edom, Gn 25:23(×3) (J; Jacob and Esau; ‖ גּוֹי); elsewhere of Isr. only Is 51:4 (sg. ‖ עַם); usually pl. of other peoples:—שְׁאוֹן ל׳ Is 17:12 (‖ הֲמוֹן עמים), cf. v 13; ‖ גּוֹיִם Is…