עִם H5973a
With, together with; preposition of accompaniment, proximity, opposition, or possession.
The preposition 'im is one of the workhorses of biblical Hebrew, appearing nearly a thousand times to express the fundamental experience of being 'with' someone. At its heart it denotes accompaniment — walking with God, dwelling with one's neighbor, going out with an army. Yet like its Arabic cognate ma'a and Aramaic 'im, it stretches beyond simple togetherness. In striking passages it flips to mean 'against,' as when Moses charges Israel with rebellion 'with' the LORD (Deut 9:7). It also shades into spatial proximity ('beside the oak at Shechem,' Gen 35:4) or possession ('there is fodder with us,' Gen 24:25).
1. accompaniment, together with — The overwhelming comitative sense: accompaniment, association, being together with someone or something. This accounts for 956 of 978 occurrences and is the default meaning across all suffix forms and constructions. Abraham pleads with God concerning Sodom: 'Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?' (Gen 18:23). The multilingual evidence is unanimous — Spanish con, French avec, German mit/bei, Arabic ma'a, and Swahili pamoja na all converge on simple togetherness. The sense covers everything from physical presence ('God was with the boy,' Gen 21:20) to covenantal partnership ('I will make my covenant with you,' Gen 17:2). 956×
AR["مَعَ","مَعَ-"]·ben["-","-সাথে","-সাথে-","সঙ্গে","সঙ্গে-","সাথে-"]·DE["bei","bei-","mit","mit-"]·EN["with","with-"]·FR["avec","avec-"]·heb["עם","עם-"]·HI["-के-साथ","के-सथ-","साथ","से"]·ID["bersama","bersama-","dengan","dengan-","kepada"]·IT["con","con-"]·jav["Kaliyan-","dhateng-","kaliyan","kaliyan-","sesarengan-","sesarengan-kaliyan-"]·KO["-과","~와","~와-함께","겼에-","과-함께","와-함께","함께","함께-"]·PT["com","com-"]·RU["с","с-"]·ES["con","con-"]·SW["kubuya","pamoja","pamoja-na","pamoja-na-"]·TR["ile","ile-"]·urd["ساتھ"]
Gen 18:23, Gen 18:25, Gen 21:10, Gen 21:10, Gen 22:5, Gen 24:12, Gen 24:14, Gen 24:58, Gen 26:20, Gen 29:6, Gen 29:9, Gen 30:8 (+38 more)
▼ 3 more senses below
Senses
2. spatial proximity, beside — Spatial proximity: beside, near, at a specific location. Fifteen occurrences shift the semantic weight from relational accompaniment to physical nearness. Isaac dwells 'at' Beer-lahai-roi (Gen 25:11), Jacob buries the foreign gods 'under the oak that was beside Shechem' (Gen 35:4), and Ai is described as 'beside Beth-aven' (Josh 7:2). Arabic 'inda ('at, beside') and Spanish junto a / cerca de both select locative vocabulary here rather than pure comitative, confirming a real spatial sub-sense that BDB connects etymologically to the Arabic noun 'indun ('side'). 15×
AR["بِجانِبِ-","عِندَ","عِنْدَ","عِنْدَ-"]·ben["-","-কাছে","কাছে","কাছে-","নিকটে-"]·DE["Volk","bei","bei-","durch-","ist-nahe-","mit","nahe","neben"]·EN["at","beside","beside-","by-","is-near-","near","with","with-"]·FR["avec","avec-","est-près-","par-","peuple","près","à","à-côté-de"]·heb["עִם","עם","עם-"]·HI["-के-पास","के-पास","पास","पास-"]·ID["dekat","dekat-","dengan","di-dekat-"]·IT["a","accanto-a","con","con-","da-","per-","popolo","vicino-a","è-vicino-a-"]·jav["caket-","cedhak-","celak","celak-","ing-","ing-celak","wonten-"]·KO["-와-함께","~와-함께한","겱에-","겼에-","곁에","곁에-","곡-","옆에서","와-함께","함께"]·PT["com","com-","junto-a","junto-a-","junto-de","perto-de-"]·RU["при","при-","с-","у","у-"]·ES["cerca-de","con","con-","junto-a","junto-a-"]·SW["Shekemu","karibu-na","karibu-na-","wakiwa-karibu-na","walionona","walipokuwa-karibu-na","zilikuwa-karibu-na"]·TR["-ile","Beer-Lahai-Roi","yaninda-","yanında","yanında-"]·urd["ساتھ","پاس","پاس-","کے-پاس"]
Gen 25:11, Gen 35:4, Josh 7:2, Judg 9:6, Judg 18:3, Judg 18:22, Judg 19:11, 1 Sam 10:2, 2 Sam 6:7, 2 Sam 13:23, 2 Sam 19:37, 2 Sam 20:8 (+3 more)
3. adversative, against — Adversative sense: against, in opposition to. Six occurrences invert the expected comitative meaning to express hostility or rebellion. Moses twice charges Israel: 'You have been rebellious against the LORD' (Deut 9:7, 24), and the psalmist asks 'Who will stand up for me against the evildoers?' (Ps 94:16). Arabic uses explicitly adversative prepositions (didda, 'ala) in these contexts, and Spanish shifts from con to contra, showing that the opposition sense is cross-linguistically marked as distinct from accompaniment. This semantic flip from 'with' to 'against' has parallels in many languages (cf. English 'to have a bone with someone'). 6×
AR["ضِدَّ-","عَلَى-","مَعَ"]·ben["-সঙ্গে","সঙ্গে-","সেই-বিরুদ্ধে"]·DE["gegen-mit","mit"]·EN["against","with"]·FR["avec","peuple"]·heb["עם","עם-"]·HI["के-साथ-"]·ID["melawan","terhadap","terhadap-"]·IT["con","popolo"]·jav["kaliyan","nglawan"]·KO["(against)-","~과-함께","과-함께-","함께"]·PT["com","com-","contra"]·RU["на-","пред-","против-"]·ES["con-","contra"]·SW["dhidi-ya"]·TR["-e-karşı","-ile","ile-","karşı-"]·urd["خلاف","ساتھ","کے-خلاف","کے-ساتھ-"]
4. possession, in custody of — Possessive or existential sense: in the keeping of, at the disposal of. A single clear occurrence at Gen 24:25, where Rebekah declares 'both straw and fodder are plentiful with us' — meaning 'we have them available.' French chez nous and Arabic 'indana ('at our place / we have') capture the possessive nuance perfectly. This marginal sense illustrates how the spatial 'beside' meaning can shade into 'in the possession of,' a development well attested across Semitic prepositions. 1×
AR["عِنْدَنَا"]·ben["আমাদের-কাছে"]·DE["bei-uns"]·EN["is-with-us"]·FR["est-avec-nous"]·heb["עם-נו"]·HI["हमारे-पास"]·ID["dengan-kami"]·IT["è-con-noi"]·jav["wonten-ing-kula"]·KO["우리-와-함께"]·PT["conosco"]·RU["у-нас"]·ES["con-nosotros"]·SW["kwetu"]·TR["yanımızda"]·urd["ہمارے-پاس"]
Related Senses
H5921a 1. upon, on, over (spatial) (5443×)H0413 1. directional: to, toward (5366×)H1121a 1. son, male offspring, descendant (4914×)H3808 1. simple negation (not) (4839×)H4428 1. king, human ruler (2518×)G1722 1. locative: in, within (2442×)H1004b 1. house, dwelling, building (2015×)H6440 1. before, in front of (spatial) (1870×)H5971a 1. people, nation (1836×)G3756 1. not (negation particle) (1635×)H3027 1. physical hand (body part) (1596×)H1697 1. word, speech, utterance (1235×)H4480a 1. source or separation (1198×)H5892b 1. city, town (1093×)G1519 1. direction: into, to, toward (1061×)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×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
עִם prep. with (Aramaic עִם, ܥܰܡ, Sab. עם DHMEpigr. Denkm. 12 HomChrest. 51; cf. Arabic مَعَ, مَعْ (but v. PrätBAS. i. 26)), sf. עִמִּי46 and עִמָּדִי45 (prob. akin to Arabic عِنْدٌ side, عِنْدَ beside: cf. √ ענד), without difference of meaning (עמי in Pent. Gn 31:31; 39:7, 12, 14; Ex 33:12 Lv 26:21, 23, 27, 40 [H] Nu 22:19; Jos-K. 13 times; ψ 42:9; 86:17; Jb 10:17; Ru 1:11; Est 7:8; in Dn 7…