אֵם em

Hebrew word for “mother” · Strong’s H517 · used 220 times in 202 verses

Explore it in the Word Atlas

Meaning

1) mother; 1a) of humans; 1b) of Deborah's relationship to the people (fig.); 1c) of animals; 2) point of departure or division

How it is translated

Glosses given for em in context, with how often each is used:

• mother 214
• mothers 4
• like mother 2

Where it is used

Also in 15 more books.

Chapters where it is used most

Judges 14 (7), Genesis 24 (4), Genesis 27 (4), Leviticus 20 (4), 1 Kings 2 (4), 2 Kings 24 (4), Genesis 28 (3), Leviticus 18 (3), Deuteronomy 21 (3), Deuteronomy 22 (3)

Forms

• אמו 79
• אמך 27
• אם 23
• אמי 23
• ואמו 14
• לאמו 8
• אמה 5
• ולאמו 5
• ואמך 4
• ואמי 4

Words used with it

Words that share verses with em more often than their overall frequency would suggest:

• אָב av “father” 75
• בַּת bat “daughter” 40
• מָלַךְ malakh “to reign” 30
• שֵׁם shem “name” 37
• יְרוּשָׁלִַם yerushalaim “Jerusalem” 30
• אָח ach “brother” 29
• שָׁנָה shaneh “year” 28
• אִשָּׁה ishshah “woman” 20
• הָלַךְ halakh “to go” 24
• אָחוֹת achot “sister” 12
• עֶשְׂרִים esrim “twenty” 14
• מוּת mut “to die” 17

Key verses

The verses using em that are most connected by cross-references (King James Version):

• Genesis 27:29 — Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother’s sons bow down to thee: cursed be every one that curseth…
• Exodus 20:12 — Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
• Leviticus 19:3 — Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep my sabbaths: I am the LORD your God.
• Deuteronomy 13:6 — If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly,…
• Deuteronomy 21:18 — If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him,…
• Deuteronomy 33:9 — Who said unto his father and to his mother, I have not seen him; neither did he acknowledge his brethren, nor knew his own children: for they have observed thy…
• Job 1:21 — And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.
• Isaiah 49:1 — Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name.
• Isaiah 50:1 — Thus saith the LORD, Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for…
• Jeremiah 15:10 — Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me…
• Ezekiel 22:7 — In thee have they set light by father and mother: in the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with the stranger: in thee have they vexed the fatherless…
• Hosea 2:5 — For their mother hath played the harlot: she that conceived them hath done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my…

See all 202 verses in the Word Atlas

Hebrew and Greek text, tagging, glosses and lexicon definitions: STEPBible.org, Tyndale House Cambridge (TAHOT, TAGNT, TBESH, TBESG; CC BY 4.0), adapted. Counts follow King James verse numbering; a word counts each time it is written.