Mother
אֵםStrong’s H0517em
Appears in 202 verses of the Old Testament
In short
Em is the Hebrew word usually translated “mother his”, “mother your” and “mother my”. It appears in 202 verses of the Old Testament.
“And it shall come to pass, that when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live; for thou speakest lies in the name of the LORD: and his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth.”
Meaning
- Motherof humans · of Deborah's relationship to the people (fig.) · of animals
- Point of departure or division
How it's translated
- mother his 73
- mother your 31
- mother my 20
- mother of 15
- and mother his 14
- to mother his 7
- mother its 6
- mother her 5
Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.
Where it's used most
- 2 Kings 22
- Genesis 21
- Judges 16
- 1 Kings 16
- Proverbs 14
- Leviticus 12
27 books in all.
Explore in Scripture
- Genesis 2:24Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
- Genesis 3:20And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
- Genesis 20:12And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.
- Genesis 21:21And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.
- Genesis 24:28And the damsel ran, and told them of her mother’s house these things.
- Genesis 24:53And the servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, and gave them to Rebekah: he gave also to her brother and to her mother precious things.
All 202 verses, by book
Hebrew dictionary
אֵם em · mother
1) mother 1a) of humans 1b) of Deborah's relationship to the people (fig.) 1c) of animals 2) point of departure or division
From STEPBible’s Hebrew lexicon (based on Brown-Driver-Briggs).
Webster's 1828 Dictionary
How the English word “mother” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.
MOTHER, noun
[Latin mater, mother; matrix, the womb; materia, matter, stuff, materials of which any thing is made. We observe that in some other languages, as well as in English, the same word signifies a female parent, and the thick slime formed in vinegar; and in all the languages of Europe here cited, the orthography is nearly the same as that of mud and matter. The question then occurs whether the name of a female parent originated in a word expressing matter, mold; either the soil of the earth, as the producer, or the like substance, when shaped and fitted as a mold for castings; or whether the name is connected with the opinion that the earth is the mother of all productions; whence the word mother-earth. We are informed by a fragment of Sanchoniathon, that the ancient Phenicians considered mud to be the substance from which all things were formed. See Mud. The word matter is evidently from the Ar. madda, to secrete, eject or discharge a purulent substance; and I think cannot have any direct connection with mud. But in the Italian, Spanish and Portuguese, the same word madre signified mother and a mold for castings; and the northern languages, particularly the German and Danish, seem to establish the fact that the proper sense of mother is matrix. Hence mother of pearl, the matrix of pearl. If this word had its origin in the name of the earth used for the forms of castings, it would not be a singular fact; for our word mold, in this sense, I suppose to be so named from mold, fine earth. The question remains sub judice.]
- A female parent; especially, one of the human race; a woman who has borne a child; correlative to son or daughter.
- That which has produced any thing.
- That which has preceded in time; the oldest or chief of any thing; as a mother-church.
- Hysterical passion. [Not used.]
All definitions and other forms of “mother”
- A familiar term of address or appellation of an old woman or matron.
- An appellation given to a woman who exercises care and tenderness towards another, or gives parental advice; as when one says, ' a woman has been a mother to me.'
- A thick slimy substance concreted in liquors, particularly in vinegar, very different from scum or common lees.
MOTHER, adjective
Native; natural; received by birth; as mother-wit.
- Native; vernacular; received from parents or ancestors; as mother-tongue.
MOTHER, verb intransitive
To concrete, as the thick matter of liquors.
MOTHER, verb transitive
To adopt as a son or daughter.
Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828). Verse references are checked against the KJV. Read the full entry.
Verses are from the King James Version. Word meanings come from the original Hebrew, not from any one translation.