What does אֵם (ʾēm) mean in the Bible?
H517, ʾēm, is the Hebrew noun for a mother. It commonly identifies a child's female parent, but its uses extend beyond a biological label.
Hebrew · H517
אֵם
A mother (as the bond of the family); in a wide sense (both literally and figuratively [like father])
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אֵםH517
Pronunciationʾēm
What does אֵם (ʾēm) mean in the Bible?
H517, ʾēm, is the Hebrew noun for a mother. It commonly identifies a child's female parent, but its uses extend beyond a biological label.
Reader summary
Full entry for אֵם (H517) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render H517?
The BSB source-word alignment has 220 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include his mother’s (28), and mother (22), his mother (19), or mother (13), mother (11).
Where does אֵם (ʾēm) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 2:24. Its strongest book concentrations include Genesis (26), 2 Kings (22), Judges (20), 1 Kings (16).
Are there verse guides for אֵם (ʾēm)?
This entry includes 1 verse guide that explain exact original-language forms in context.
What This Word Actually Means
H517, ʾēm, is the Hebrew noun for a mother. It commonly identifies a child's female parent, but its uses extend beyond a biological label. Scripture speaks of a mother who bears, protects, teaches, grieves, comforts, provides, exercises influence, and belongs within a wider household and covenant community. The noun may also be used figuratively, as when Deborah calls herself a mother in Israel or when a city or people is portrayed maternally. Context must determine whether the referent is an individual woman, an ancestor, an animal's dam, a community, or a poetic figure.
The passages do not offer one sentimental portrait of motherhood. Moses' mother entrusts a vulnerable child to a basket under an imperial death order, and Pharaoh's daughter summons her to nurse him. Hannah continues to care for Samuel after dedicating him to the Lord. Wisdom treats a mother's teaching as moral formation worthy of attention. The command to honor father and mother gives family bonds covenant seriousness, yet it does not call evil good or require unsafe access to an abusive parent. Other texts expose mothers who misuse influence, families torn by violence, and mothers unable to protect children amid judgment. The word names a real relation whose faithfulness or corruption each narrative reveals.
Scripture also uses maternal experience to speak about God's gifts without identifying God as a creature or reducing women to one role. Psalm 113 praises the Lord for giving a barren woman a joyful home, while Isaiah 66 compares divine comfort to a mother comforting her son. These images honor maternal care and God's compassion, but they are not universal promises of pregnancy, guarantees of uncomplicated family life, or definitions of every woman's calling. Eve is called mother of all the living within the story of creation, fall, judgment, and promised offspring. The canon ultimately directs hope toward God's redeeming faithfulness, not idealized family performance. Faithful teaching can honor mothers, receive maternal wisdom, defend children and caregivers, lament loss, and welcome those whose family histories are painful, incomplete, adoptive, fostered, widowed, childless, or otherwise complex.
source_lexicongrammaticalCanonical parallelBook context
How the Bible Uses It
H517 names literal mothers across family history and covenant life, while selected poetic and communal uses show maternal care, instruction, leadership, joy, grief, and comfort without making one experience universal.
- Gen.3.20
And Adam named his wife Eve, because she would be the mother of all the living.
Eve's name is connected to life after the fall and before the birth narratives unfold. The title honors her place in human ancestry without erasing judgment, conflict, or the promised offspring.
- Exod.2.8
“Go ahead,” Pharaoh’s daughter told her. And the girl went and called the boy’s mother.
Moses' mother reenters the scene through the courage of his sister and the decision of Pharaoh's daughter. Maternal care operates within a network of women resisting an order of death.
- Exod.20.12
Honor your father and mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
The covenant command joins honor for both parents to life in the land. It establishes weighty family obligation without authorizing parents to demand sin or ongoing exposure to harm.
- Judg.5.7
Life in the villages ceased; it ended in Israel, until I, Deborah, arose, a mother in Israel.
Deborah describes her public leadership through maternal imagery amid national crisis. The expression is communal and vocational, not a claim that every mother or woman holds the same office.
- 1Sam.2.19
Each year his mother would make him a little robe and bring it to him when she went with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice.
Hannah's annual robe embodies continued care after Samuel's dedication. Her motherhood includes prayer, relinquishment, memory, provision, and worship rather than possession of the child's future.
- Prov.1.8
Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction, and do not forsake the teaching of your mother.
Wisdom places a mother's teaching beside a father's instruction as formative authority. The saying values received moral wisdom while the book tests all counsel by the fear of the Lord.
- Ps.113.9
He settles the barren woman in her home as a joyful mother to her children. Hallelujah!
The psalm praises the Lord who raises the lowly and reverses shame. Its song of surprising joy should not be turned into a guaranteed fertility timetable for every sufferer.
- Isa.66.13
As a mother comforts her son, so will I comfort you, and you will be consoled over Jerusalem.”
The Lord compares His promised comfort to recognizable maternal consolation. The analogy communicates tenderness and nearness while preserving the Creator-creature distinction.
Passage contextBook contextCanonical parallel
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders Ithis mother’s28×Judges 9:1, 1 Kings 14:21, 1 Kings 14:31, 1 Kings 15:2
and mother22×Genesis 24:55, Genesis 28:7, Exodus 20:12, Deuteronomy 21:13
his mother19×Genesis 21:21, Genesis 27:11, Genesis 27:13, Genesis 30:14
or mother13×Exodus 21:15, Exodus 21:17, Leviticus 20:9, Leviticus 21:11
mother11×Genesis 2:24, Exodus 2:8, Joshua 2:13, Joshua 2:18
your mother10×Leviticus 18:7, 1 Samuel 15:33, Proverbs 23:22, Song Of Solomon 8:5
the mother8×Genesis 3:20, Deuteronomy 22:6, 2 Samuel 17:25, 1 Kings 1:11
of your mother6×Genesis 27:29, Leviticus 20:19, 2 Kings 3:13, 2 Kings 9:22
to his mother6×Genesis 27:14, Judges 17:2, Judges 17:3, Judges 17:4
my mother5×1 Kings 2:20, Job 17:14, Proverbs 4:3, Jeremiah 15:10
from my mother’s4×Judges 16:17, Job 1:21, Psalms 22:10, Psalms 71:6
of his mother4×Genesis 24:67, Leviticus 20:17, Judges 9:1, Psalms 109:14
of my mother4×Genesis 20:12, Judges 8:19, Song Of Solomon 8:2, Isaiah 49:1
. . .3×Genesis 29:10, Deuteronomy 13:6
in its mother’s3×Exodus 23:19, Exodus 34:26, Deuteronomy 14:21
my mother’s3×Psalms 22:9, Song Of Solomon 1:6, Song Of Solomon 3:4
your mother’s3×Genesis 28:2, Leviticus 18:13, Proverbs 6:20
a mother2×Judges 5:7, Ezekiel 44:25
and her mother2×Genesis 24:53, Leviticus 20:14
and the mother2×Deuteronomy 22:6, 2 Kings 4:30
and your mother2×Deuteronomy 5:16, Ezekiel 16:3
his grandmother2×1 Kings 15:13, 2 Chronicles 15:16
is your mother’s2×Leviticus 18:13, Isaiah 50:1
of his mother’s2×Genesis 29:10, Numbers 12:12
of the mother2×1 Samuel 20:30, Song Of Solomon 6:9
the mothers2×Jeremiah 15:8, Jeremiah 16:3
their mothers2×Exodus 22:30, Proverbs 30:11
(His mother’s1×Leviticus 24:11
[for his] mother1×Psalms 35:14
[she]1×Judges 17:3
[who was] the mother1×Genesis 28:5
against her mother1×Micah 7:6
and from my mother’s1×Job 31:18
and mother [goodbye]1×1 Kings 19:20
and mother [had done]1×2 Kings 3:2
and she1×Judges 17:4
and the mothers1×Genesis 32:11
And when his mother’s1×Judges 9:3
As a mother1×Isaiah 66:13
at my mother’s1×Song Of Solomon 8:1
but be sure to let the mother1×Deuteronomy 22:7
from his mother’s1×Ecclesiastes 5:15
her mother’s1×Genesis 24:28
His grandmother’s1×1 Kings 15:10
his mother’s death1×Genesis 24:67
his own mother’s1×Genesis 43:29
in my mother’s1×Psalms 139:13
is his mother1×1 Kings 3:27
is your mother1×Leviticus 18:7
its mother1×Leviticus 22:27
Like mother1×Ezekiel 16:44
of their mothers1×Lamentations 2:12
of your mother’s1×Genesis 28:2
one of his mother’s1×Genesis 44:20
or ‘Mother1×Isaiah 8:4
our mothers1×Lamentations 5:3
so that my mother1×Jeremiah 20:17
that is a mother1×2 Samuel 20:19
the fork1×Ezekiel 21:21
their mother1×Hosea 2:5
Then his mother1×Judges 17:2
to a mother1×Proverbs 30:17
to my mother’s1×Psalms 69:8
to their mothers1×Lamentations 2:12
to your mother’s1×Ruth 1:8
was the mother1×1 Chronicles 2:26
was your mother1×Ezekiel 19:2
when mothers1×Hosea 10:14
when my mother1×Psalms 51:5
who1×Genesis 27:14
whose mother1×1 Kings 11:26
Will your mother1×Genesis 37:10
with his mother1×Psalms 131:2
your mother’s daughter1×Leviticus 18:9
your own mother’s1×Psalms 50:20
Show sample aligned rows
Genesis 2:24אִמּ֑וֹtomotherNoun - feminine singular construct | third person masculine singularGenesis 3:20אֵ֥םtothe motherNoun - feminine singular constructGenesis 20:12אִמִּ֑יtoof my motherNoun - feminine singular construct | first person common singularGenesis 21:21אִמּ֛וֹtohis motherNoun - feminine singular construct | third person masculine singularGenesis 24:28אִמָּ֑הּtoher mother’sNoun - feminine singular construct | third person feminine singularGenesis 24:53וּלְאִמָּֽהּ׃toand her motherConjunctive waw, Preposition-l | Noun - feminine singular construct | third person feminine singularGenesis 24:55וְאִמָּ֔הּtoand motherConjunctive waw | Noun - feminine singular construct | third person feminine singularGenesis 24:67אִמּ֔וֹtoof his motherNoun - feminine singular construct | third person masculine singularGenesis 24:67אִמּֽוֹ׃פtohis mother’s deathNoun - feminine singular construct | third person masculine singularGenesis 27:11אִמּ֑וֹtohis motherNoun - feminine singular construct | third person masculine singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowGenesis 2:24
Aligned rows220
Books represented27
Genesis26Exodus7Leviticus15Numbers2Deuteronomy13Joshua3Judges20Ruth21 Samuel42 Samuel31 Kings162 Kings221 Chronicles22 Chronicles12Esther2Job3Psalms12Proverbs14Ecclesiastes1Song Of Solomon7Isaiah5Jeremiah9Lamentations3Ezekiel10Hosea4Micah1Zechariah2
Source forms
אִמּ֔וֹ36x’im·mōwGenesis 24:67, Genesis 27:13, Genesis 29:10, Exodus 22:30
אִמּ֑וֹ11x’im·mōwGenesis 2:24, Genesis 27:11, Genesis 28:7, Genesis 29:10
אֵ֥ם8x’êmGenesis 3:20, Genesis 28:5, Exodus 2:8, Judges 5:28
אִמּֽוֹ׃8x’im·mōwGenesis 29:10, 1 Kings 3:27, 2 Kings 4:19, Proverbs 10:1
אִמֶּֽךָ׃6x’im·me·ḵāGenesis 28:2, 1 Samuel 20:30, Proverbs 1:8, Proverbs 6:20
אֵ֣ם5x’êm2 Kings 4:30, 2 Kings 11:1, 2 Kings 24:15, 2 Chronicles 22:10
אִמִּֽי׃5x’im·mîPsalms 22:9, Psalms 51:5, Psalms 69:8, Psalms 139:13
אִמֶּ֑ךָ5x’im·me·ḵāGenesis 27:29, Genesis 28:2, Exodus 20:12, 1 Samuel 15:33
Parsing patterns
Noun - feminine singular construct | third person masculine singular79xGenesis 2:24, Genesis 21:21, Genesis 24:67, Genesis 27:11
Noun - feminine singular construct | second person masculine singular25xGenesis 27:29, Genesis 28:2, Exodus 20:12, Leviticus 18:7
Noun - feminine singular construct | first person common singular23xGenesis 20:12, Joshua 2:13, Judges 8:19, Judges 16:17
Noun - feminine singular construct15xGenesis 3:20, Genesis 28:5, Exodus 2:8, Judges 5:28
Conjunctive waw | Noun - feminine singular construct | third person masculine singular14xExodus 21:15, Exodus 21:17, Leviticus 20:9, Deuteronomy 21:19
Noun - feminine singular8xGenesis 32:11, Judges 5:7, Psalms 35:14, Proverbs 19:26
Preposition-l | Noun - feminine singular construct | third person masculine singular8xGenesis 27:14, Genesis 44:20, Leviticus 21:2, Judges 17:2
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-l | Noun - feminine singular construct | third person masculine singular5xLeviticus 21:11, Numbers 6:7, Deuteronomy 33:9, Judges 14:2
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Honor maternal care truthfully, making room for gratitude, repentance, lament, boundaries, and forgiveness without forcing one emotional response.
- Support mothers and children with concrete care rather than praising sacrifice while leaving caregivers isolated or unsafe.
- Receive Scripture's maternal images of comfort and wisdom without implying that every woman must become a mother to have dignity or vocation.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim that motherhood makes a person automatically wise, holy, safe, or entitled to unquestioned obedience.
- Do not claim that childbearing is promised to every faithful woman or that infertility reveals divine rejection.
- Do not claim that setting protective boundaries violates biblical honor when ongoing access would enable harm.
- Do not claim that figurative maternal language erases the passage's actual woman, community, city, or poetic comparison.
Key Verse and Form Guides
Verse-level guides showing how this original-language form works in its specific context, including grammar, verse function, and guarded interpretation.
Evidence Summary
Hebrew word. Mother as the relational bond holding family together; extends figuratively to cities, nations, and source-origins.
Source Gloss
a mother (as the bond of the family); in a wide sense (both literally and figuratively [like father])
Extended definitionSource: Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon + Brown-Driver-Briggs
Mother as the relational bond holding family together; extends figuratively to cities, nations, and source-origins.
a mother (as the bond of the family); in a wide sense (both literally and figuratively [like father]) BDB: mother Usage: dam, mother, × parting.
Grammatical Forms
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Selected Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Biblical Witnesses
Literal parent deserving honor and respect from children
Parent whose curse brings judgment, illustrating parental authority and consequence
Parent whose rejection by a child brings shame and disgrace
Parent deserving reverence, with divine punishment for those who mock or despise
Showing 4 selected witnesses from 220 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
אֵם is a primitive word - 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
H517 names a relation that Scripture treats with both honor and truthfulness. Eve stands at the beginning of human motherhood in a world already marked by sin and promise. Moses' mother protects life under Pharaoh's violence, yet the narrative also shows his sister and Pharaoh's daughter sharing in the rescue. Hannah's small annual robe records durable care after costly relinquishment.
Proverbs makes a mother's teaching part of wisdom's household formation, and the Decalogue gives both parents covenant weight. Deborah can call herself a mother in Israel because the image communicates courageous public care during collapse. None of these texts makes motherhood effortless, uniform, or morally automatic. Other narratives show distorted influence and devastating grief.
Psalm 113 and Isaiah 66 then use maternal joy and comfort to praise God's reversal and consolation, but they do not promise pregnancy on demand or confine every woman to a maternal role. Good preaching therefore honors the relation without worshiping an ideal. It welcomes biological, adoptive, foster, spiritual, and communal care only where the passage warrants those connections, protects people from manipulative uses of parental honor, and keeps the Lord as the source of life, wisdom, deliverance, and comfort.
Anchor passage
Prov.1.8
Doctrinal connections
- Genesis 3 places Eve's motherhood within creation, fall, mortality, and the promise of offspring, so life continues by God's mercy rather than human innocence.
- Exodus 2 shows maternal protection joined with the courage and action of other women as God preserves the future deliverer under Pharaoh's violence.
- The Decalogue gives mother and father equal place in the command to honor parents within covenant loyalty and life in the land.
- Judges 5 uses maternal language for Deborah's courageous communal leadership when village life and public safety had collapsed.
- Proverbs treats a mother's teaching as a genuine source of household wisdom that must remain ordered by the fear of the Lord.
- Psalm 113 and Isaiah 66 employ maternal joy and comfort to praise God's compassionate reversal without collapsing God into human biology.
H517 is a feminine noun used in singular, plural, construct, absolute, and pronominal forms. The governed word table records 220 exact tokens across 202 verses and 27 books. Most uses identify a literal mother, but context can extend the term to an animal's dam, an ancestor, a city or people, a poetic figure, a crossroads source in Ezekiel 21:21, or a communal role such as Deborah's “mother in Israel.”
From Old to New Testament
The New Testament continues to honor mothers and maternal care, including Jesus' concern for His mother at the cross and Paul's recognition of maternal faith and service. It also widens family belonging around obedience to God and life in Christ. These themes connect canonically without making Greek G3384 or every figurative family term a one-to-one equivalent of H517.
Canonical parallelBook context