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# עָמַל

Biblical Hebrew · Strong's H5998

**labour** — used 11 times in the Hebrew Bible. Below: its meanings with their sources, MACULA's glosses, and 2 verses word for word and in JPS 1917.

## Meaning

### OpenScriptures lexical index

labour [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1506/5998/#m1)

### Brown–Driver–Briggs 1906

עָמַל: vb. labour, toil [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1506/5998/#m2)

**The whole BDB entry:** vb. labour, toil (NH id.; Arabic عَمِلَ labour, make; Sab. עמל work (? n. or vb.) CIS iv. No. 250; Aramaic עֲמַל, ܥܡܰܠ; Zinj. עמל; Assyrian nîmelu, gain, possessions);— Pf. 3 ms. ע׳ Ec 2:21; 3 fs. עָֽמְלָה Pr 16:26; 2 ms. עָמַלְתָּ Jon 4:10; 1 s. עָמַלְתִּי Ec 2:11 + 2 times; pl. עָֽמְלוּ ψ 127:1; Impf. 3 ms. יַעֲמֹל Ec 1:3 + 3 times;—labour (very late): in building, c. בְּ ψ 127:1; tillage, c. בְּ Jon 4:10; gen., c. בְּ Ec 2:21, c. לְ Pr 16:26; Ec 5:15, c. לְ + inf. 8:17; עֲמָלוֹ שֶׁיַּעֲמֹל 1:3; 5:17, cf. 2:11, 19, 20.

Why these entries: BDB: headword, part of speech agrees, 10 of its verses cited, 1 words shared with the glosses, lists its Strong's number (5 candidates); OSHB: headword, part of speech agrees, 1 words shared with the BDB entry, 0 with the glosses (5 candidates)

## Glosses

MACULA's English glosses of the word in the text, with how often each is used: I have toiled (2); he toils (2); I had toiled (1).

## In the verses

[Proverbs 16:26](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO.16.26/) · [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PRO.16.26/#tree)

נֶ֣פֶשׁ עָ֭מֵל עָ֣מְלָה לּ֑וֹ כִּֽי־אָכַ֖ף עָלָ֣יו פִּֽיהוּ׃

*Word for word:* \[the\].appetite of.a.laborer it.toils for him (dm) it.presses on him mouth his

*JPS 1917:* The hunger of the labouring man laboureth for him; for his mouth compelleth him.

[Ecclesiastes 1:3](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC.1.3/) · [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/ECC.1.3/#tree)

מַה־יִּתְר֖וֹן לָֽאָדָ֑ם בְּכָל־עֲמָל֔וֹ שֶֽׁיַּעֲמֹ֖ל תַּ֥חַת הַשָּֽׁמֶשׁ׃

*Word for word:* what? advantage \[belongs\].to (the) humankind in all toil his which he.toils under the sun

*JPS 1917:* What profit hath man of all his labour wherein he laboureth under the sun?

## On Mova

- [This word in the Tanakh dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/tanakh/w/5998.html) on Mova free.
- [Trees and pragmatics of its meanings](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1506/5998/): every English meaning parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.

Sources. The words, their counts, glosses and the word-for-word renderings: MACULA Hebrew (the Westminster Leningrad Codex; Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0). Meanings: the OpenScriptures lexical index (CC BY 4.0), Brown–Driver–Briggs 1906 and Jastrow 1903 (public domain, via Sefaria); Targum Onkelos from Sefaria (public domain). Translation: JPS 1917 (public domain, from eBible.org).