What does טָמַן mean in the Bible?
Hiding places something out of another person's sight, often through covering or concealment. The action can serve sharply different purposes.
Hebrew · H2934
טָמַן
Hiding places something out of another person's sight, often through covering or concealment. The action can serve sharply different purposes.
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טָמַןH2934
What does טָמַן mean in the Bible?
Reader summary
Full entry for טָמַן (H2934) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render H2934?
The BSB source-word alignment has 31 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include hidden (3), and hide (2), buries (2), they have hidden (2), and bury them (1).
Where does טָמַן appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 35:4. Its strongest book concentrations include Jeremiah (7), Psalms (7), Job (6), Joshua (3).
What This Word Actually Means
Hiding places something out of another person's sight, often through covering or concealment. The action can serve sharply different purposes. Joshua 2:6 describes Rahab hiding the spies beneath stalks of flax, protecting the people whom the king's men seek. Joshua 7:21 describes Achan hiding goods he has coveted and taken, and the surrounding account exposes his violation.
Job 31:33 names hiding guilt within a conditional declaration about the conduct Job denies. The verb therefore cannot settle the moral question by itself: what is hidden, from whom and for what purpose all matter. Concealing a person from hostile pursuit is not identical to suppressing evidence of wrongdoing. These narratives do not provide a shortcut for every contemporary question about privacy or disclosure.
They teach readers to examine the actual action and its governing obligations without making secrecy either automatically virtuous or automatically sinful.
Passage contextPastoral application
How the Bible Uses It
The selected concealments concern endangered spies, stolen goods and denied concealment of guilt. Narrative and speech establish their differing moral roles, preventing the action word from becoming a universal rule about secrecy.
- Josh.2.6
(But Rahab had taken them up to the roof and hidden them among the stalks of flax that she had laid out there.)
Rahab hides the spies beneath flax on her roof as the king's men seek them; the action belongs to the unfolding narrative of her allegiance and their protection.
- Josh.7.21
When I saw among the spoils a beautiful cloak from Shinar, two hundred shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”
Achan describes coveting, taking and hiding prohibited spoils; concealment follows the wrongdoing rather than serving an endangered person's protection.
- Job.31.33
If I have covered my transgressions like Adam by hiding my guilt in my heart,
Job includes concealment of guilt in a conditional account of conduct he denies; the verse must not be cited as his confession that he did hide it.
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders Ithidden3×Joshua 7:21, Joshua 7:22, Job 3:16
and hide2×Isaiah 2:10, Jeremiah 13:4
buries2×Proverbs 19:24, Proverbs 26:15
they have hidden2×Psalms 9:15, Psalms 142:3
and bury them1×Jeremiah 43:9
and have hidden1×Jeremiah 18:22
and hid [them]1×2 Kings 7:8
and hid his body1×Exodus 2:12
and hid it1×Jeremiah 13:5
and hid them1×2 Kings 7:8
and hidden them1×Joshua 2:6
buried1×Genesis 35:4
Bury them1×Job 40:13
by hiding1×Job 31:33
hide1×Psalms 140:5
I had hidden it1×Jeremiah 13:7
I have embedded1×Jeremiah 43:10
in the grave1×Job 40:13
is hidden1×Job 18:10
is reserved1×Job 20:26
laid out1×Psalms 31:4
of hiding1×Psalms 64:5
they hid1×Psalms 35:8
they laid1×Psalms 35:7
treasures1×Deuteronomy 33:19
you to hide1×Jeremiah 13:6
Show sample aligned rows
Genesis 35:4וַיִּטְמֹ֤ןtoburiedConjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singularExodus 2:12וַֽיִּטְמְנֵ֖הוּtoand hid his bodyConjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular | third person masculine singularDeuteronomy 33:19טְמ֥וּנֵיtotreasuresVerb - Qal - QalPassParticiple - masculine plural constructJoshua 2:6וַֽתִּטְמְנֵם֙toand hidden themConjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person feminine singular | third person masculine pluralJoshua 7:21טְמוּנִ֥יםtohiddenVerb - Qal - QalPassParticiple - masculine pluralJoshua 7:22טְמוּנָ֛הtohiddenVerb - Qal - QalPassParticiple - feminine singular2 Kings 7:8וַיַּטְמִ֑נוּtoand hid [them]Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural2 Kings 7:8וַיַּטְמִֽנוּ׃toand hid themConjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine pluralJob 3:16טָ֭מוּןtohiddenVerb - Qal - QalPassParticiple - masculine singularJob 18:10טָמ֣וּןtois hiddenVerb - Qal - QalPassParticiple - masculine singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowGenesis 35:4
Aligned rows31
Books represented10
Genesis1Exodus1Deuteronomy1Joshua32 Kings2Job6Psalms7Proverbs2Isaiah1Jeremiah7
Source forms
טָ֘מַ֤ן2xṭā·manProverbs 19:24, Proverbs 26:15
בַּטָּמֽוּן׃1xbaṭ·ṭā·mūnJob 40:13
וָאֶטְמְנֵ֖הוּ1xwā·’eṭ·mə·nê·hūJeremiah 13:5
וְהִטָּמֵ֖ן1xwə·hiṭ·ṭā·mênIsaiah 2:10
וְטָמְנֵ֥הוּ1xwə·ṭā·mə·nê·hūJeremiah 13:4
וּטְמַנְתָּ֤ם1xū·ṭə·man·tāmJeremiah 43:9
וַיִּטְמֹ֤ן1xway·yiṭ·mōnGenesis 35:4
וַֽיִּטְמְנֵ֖הוּ1xway·yiṭ·mə·nê·hūExodus 2:12
Parsing patterns
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person common plural6xPsalms 9:15, Psalms 31:4, Psalms 35:7, Psalms 140:5
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular3xPsalms 35:8, Proverbs 19:24, Proverbs 26:15
Verb - Qal - QalPassParticiple - masculine singular3xJob 3:16, Job 18:10, Job 20:26
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural2x2 Kings 7:8
Preposition-l | Verb - Qal - Infinitive construct2xJob 31:33, Psalms 64:5
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Nifal - Imperative - masculine singular1xIsaiah 2:10
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive perfect - second person masculine singular | third person masculine plural1xJeremiah 43:9
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - first person common singular | third person masculine singular1xJeremiah 13:5
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Protect vulnerable people's privacy while taking reports of wrongdoing seriously; reputation alone does not justify concealment.
- Avoid demanding unsafe confrontation or disclosure through a simplified word-study rule; responsible care requires attention to actual circumstances.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim concealment is always sinful; Joshua 2:6 describes Rahab protecting spies whom Hebrews later remembers in faith.
- Do not claim Job 31:33 confesses hidden guilt; the clause occurs within Job's conditional protest against that conduct.
Evidence Summary
Hebrew word. to hide (by covering over)
Source Gloss
to hide (by covering over)
Extended definitionSource: Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon + Brown-Driver-Briggs
to hide (by covering over) BDB: hide Usage: hide, lay privily, in secret.
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 groups1Aligned forms16
Qalbasic active stem — the word in its most common, direct sense16×
PerfectJer 18:22 · Ps 9:16 · Ps 31:5 · Ps 35:7 · Ps 140:6 · Ps 142:4 · Prov 19:24 · Prov 26:15 · Ps 35:8 · Jer 43:1010×
Participle passiveDeut 33:19 · Job 3:16 · Job 18:10 · Job 20:26 · Josh 7:21 · Josh 7:226×
Word Origins
טָמַן is a primitive root - no further derivation.
Part of These Phrases
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
For the Preacher and Teacher
Joshua's two scenes show why a word study must remain accountable to the story. Rahab places the spies under flax while their pursuers search; Achan buries coveted goods in his tent after taking what he should not take. The same general action of concealment does not erase the difference between the endangered persons and the prohibited possessions. Job's conditional declaration adds a grammatical caution: a description of conduct under denial is not a confession of that conduct.
Teachers can use these distinctions to expose self-protective cover-ups while respecting the privacy of those at risk. No church's reputation outranks truth and care for harmed people, and no lexical shortcut can determine every disclosure question. The passage's own facts must govern the moral assessment before a contemporary analogy is offered.
Anchor passage
Josh.7.21
Doctrinal connections
- Joshua 2:6 places concealment within Rahab's protection of the spies amid the king's pursuit.
- Joshua 7:19-22 connects Achan's buried spoils with his admitted coveting and taking rather than neutral storage.
- Job 31:33-35 places hidden guilt within a conditional protest of innocence, requiring attention to the speaker's syntax.
- Genesis 35:4 describes Jacob burying foreign gods before the family's journey, a distinct object and narrative purpose.
- Hebrews 11:31 commends Rahab's faith and reception of the spies without making the hiding verb a complete ethical rule.
- Ephesians 5:11 calls for exposing works of darkness with different Greek vocabulary; its instruction is not derived from every Hebrew concealment.
The verb's concealment sense does not carry a fixed moral verdict. Narrative sequence, objects and conditional speech are decisive: especially in Job, the described action belongs to an assertion being denied.
From Old to New Testament
Joshua contrasts concealment protecting spies with concealment of prohibited goods. Hebrews 11:31 explicitly remembers Rahab's faith and reception of the spies, while Ephesians 5:11 addresses exposing darkness. Those passages inform canonical reflection, but neither a Hebrew verb nor Rahab's narrative supplies blanket permission for secrecy about harm.
Passage contextPastoral application