What does דָּמָה (dāmāh) mean in the Bible?
דָּמָה (dāmāh): Silence moves from passive muteness to active cessation—a word tracking decay from quiet to complete destruction.
Hebrew · H1820
דָּמָה
To be dumb or silent ; hence, to fail or perish ; trans . to destroy
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דָּמָה H1820
Pronunciation dāmāh
What does דָּמָה (dāmāh) mean in the Bible?
דָּמָה (dāmāh): Silence moves from passive muteness to active cessation—a word tracking decay from quiet to complete destruction.
Full entry for דָּמָה (H1820) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render H1820?
The BSB source-word alignment has 15 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include . . . (2), destroyed (2), that perish (2), will be silenced (2), are destroyed (1).
Where does דָּמָה (dāmāh) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Psalms 49:12. Its strongest book concentrations include Hosea (5), Isaiah (3), Jeremiah (2), Psalms (2).
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders It . . . 2× Lamentations 3:49, Hosea 10:15
destroyed 2× Isaiah 15:1
that perish 2× Psalms 49:12, Psalms 49:20
will be silenced 2× Jeremiah 47:5, Zephaniah 1:11
are destroyed 1× Hosea 4:6
cease 1× Jeremiah 14:17
I am ruined 1× Isaiah 6:5
so I will destroy 1× Hosea 4:5
will be carried off 1× Hosea 10:7
will be utterly cut off 1× Hosea 10:15
you will be ruined 1× Obadiah 1:5
Show sample aligned rows
Psalms 49:12 נִדְמֽוּ׃ to that perish Verb - Nifal - Perfect - third person common plural Psalms 49:20 נִדְמֽוּ׃ to that perish Verb - Nifal - Perfect - third person common plural Isaiah 6:5 נִדְמֵ֗יתִי to I am ruined Verb - Nifal - Perfect - first person common singular Isaiah 15:1 נִדְמָ֔ה to destroyed Verb - Nifal - Perfect - third person masculine singular Isaiah 15:1 נִדְמָֽה׃ to destroyed Verb - Nifal - Perfect - third person masculine singular Jeremiah 14:17 תִּדְמֶ֑ינָה to cease Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person feminine plural Jeremiah 47:5 נִדְמְתָ֥ה to will be silenced Verb - Nifal - Perfect - third person feminine singular Lamentations 3:49 תִדְמֶ֖ה to . . . Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person feminine singular Hosea 4:5 וְדָמִ֖יתִי to so I will destroy Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive perfect - first person common singular Hosea 4:6 נִדְמ֥וּ to are destroyed Verb - Nifal - Perfect - third person common plural
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Psalms 49:12
Aligned rows 15
Books represented 7
Psalms 2 Isaiah 3 Jeremiah 2 Lamentations 1 Hosea 5 Obadiah 1 Zephaniah 1
Source forms
נִדְמֽוּ׃ 2x niḏ·mū Psalms 49:12, Psalms 49:20
וְדָמִ֖יתִי 1x wə·ḏā·mî·ṯî Hosea 4:5
נִדְמֶ֥ה 1x niḏ·meh Hosea 10:7
נִדְמָ֔ה 1x niḏ·māh Isaiah 15:1
נִדְמָ֖ה 1x niḏ·māh Hosea 10:15
נִדְמָה֙ 1x niḏ·māh Zephaniah 1:11
נִדְמֹ֥ה 1x niḏ·mōh Hosea 10:15
נִדְמָֽה׃ 1x niḏ·māh Isaiah 15:1
Parsing patterns
Verb - Nifal - Perfect - third person masculine singular 4x Isaiah 15:1, Hosea 10:15, Zephaniah 1:11
Verb - Nifal - Perfect - third person common plural 3x Psalms 49:12, Psalms 49:20, Hosea 4:6
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive perfect - first person common singular 1x Hosea 4:5
Verb - Nifal - Infinitive absolute 1x Hosea 10:15
Verb - Nifal - Participle - masculine singular 1x Hosea 10:7
Verb - Nifal - Perfect - first person common singular 1x Isaiah 6:5
Verb - Nifal - Perfect - second person masculine singular 1x Obadiah 1:5
Verb - Nifal - Perfect - third person feminine singular 1x Jeremiah 47:5
Evidence Summary
Hebrew word. Silence moves from passive muteness to active cessation—a word tracking decay from quiet to complete destruction.
Source Gloss
to be dumb or silent ; hence, to fail or perish ; trans . to destroy
Extended definition Source: Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon + Brown-Driver-Briggs
Silence moves from passive muteness to active cessation—a word tracking decay from quiet to complete destruction.
to be dumb or silent; hence, to fail or perish; trans. to destroy BDB: cease Usage: cease, be cut down (off), destroy, be brought to silence, be undone, × utterly.
Grammatical Forms
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Form groups 2 Aligned forms 15
Niphal passive or reflexive — the subject receives or experiences the action 12×
Perfect Hos 10:15 · Isa 15:1 · Zeph 1:11 · Hos 4:6 · Ps 49:13 · Ps 49:21 · Isa 6:5 · Jer 47:5 · Obad 1:5 10×
Participle passive Hos 10:7 1×
Infinitive absolute Hos 10:15 1×
Qal basic active stem — the word in its most common, direct sense 3×
Perfect Jer 6:2 1×
Jussive Jer 14:17 1×
Imperfect Lam 3:49 1×
Word Origins
דָּמָה is a primitive root - no further derivation.
Sources
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (morphhb/OSHB) — CC BY 4.0
Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain