dam · blood

What it means

dam (דָּם) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “blood”.

In the Bible blood stands for life; "shed blood" is to kill; "bloodguilt" is guilt for killing.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. The red fluid that runs through the body and carries the life of people and animals.
2. A murder, and the guilt it leaves on the killer.
3. The juice of the grape, wine.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Blood, of a person or an animal; BDB notes that in the plural it means above all blood that is shed, that is, bloodshed. In the Bible blood stands for life.

• Blood shed: killing Genesis 4:10Genesis 9:6
• Blood is life: it is not to be eaten Genesis 9:4Leviticus 17:11
• The blood as a sign at the Passover Exodus 12:13
• The waters turned into blood Exodus 7:20
• In the plural, “bloodguilt” Deuteronomy 19:10Exodus 22:2

Historical and cultural background

Leviticus 17:11 gives the reason for the ban on eating blood: “the life of the flesh is in the blood”, and it is the blood that makes expiation on the altar.

How we translate it

“Blood” 348 times, “bloodguilt” 6, “bloodshed” 6. The plural דָּמִים, when it means the guilt of having killed, is translated “bloodguilt”; דָּם נָקִי, “innocent blood”. Formulas such as “his blood will be on his head” are kept literally.

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• blood ×348
• bloodguilt ×6
• bloodshed ×6

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Genesis×11
• Exodus×29
• Leviticus×88
• Numbers×15
• Deuteronomy×23
• Joshua×5
• Judges×1
• 1 Samuel×8
• 2 Samuel×12
• 1 Kings×12
• 2 Kings×13
• 1 Chronicles×4
• 2 Chronicles×8
• Job×2
• Psalms×21
• Proverbs×8
• Isaiah×15
• Jeremiah×9
• Lamentations×2
• Ezekiel×55
• Hosea×5
• Joel×4
• Jonah×1
• Micah×2
• Nahum×1
• Habakkuk×3
• Zephaniah×1
• Zechariah×2

• Genesis 4:10

  And he said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground.

• Genesis 4:11

  And now, cursed are you away from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.

• Genesis 9:4

  Only flesh with its life, its blood, you shall not eat.

• Genesis 9:5

  And surely your blood, for your lives, I will require; from the hand of every animal I will require it, and from the hand of the human being, from the hand of each one for his brother, I will require the life of the human being.

• Genesis 9:6

  Whoever sheds the blood of the human being, by the human being his blood will be shed; for in the image of Elohim he made the human being.

• Genesis 37:22

  Reuben said to them, “Do not shed blood; throw him into this cistern that is in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him,” so that he might deliver him from their hands to bring him back to his father.

• Genesis 37:26

  Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is there if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?

• Genesis 37:31

  They took Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a male goat and dipped the robe in the blood.

• Genesis 42:22

  Reuben answered them, saying, “Did I not tell you, ‘Do not sin against the child’? But you did not listen. And look, his blood too is being required.”

• Genesis 49:11

  Binding his foal to the vine, and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine, he washes his garment in wine and his robe in the blood of grapes.

• Exodus 4:9

  And it will be that if they do not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, you shall take some of the water of the Nile and pour it on the dry ground, and the water that you take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.”

• Exodus 4:25

  Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off the foreskin of her son and touched it to his feet and said, “Surely a bridegroom of blood you are to me!”

• Exodus 4:26

  So he let him alone. It was then that she said, “a bridegroom of blood,” because of the circumcision.

• Exodus 7:17

  Thus says YHWH: “By this you will know that I am YHWH: look, I am going to strike with the staff that is in my hand the water that is in the Nile, and it will be turned into blood.

• Exodus 7:19

  YHWH said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their canals, over their pools, and over all the reservoirs of their water, that they may become blood; and there will be blood in all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.’”

• Exodus 7:20

  Moses and Aaron did so, as YHWH had commanded. He raised the staff and struck the water that was in the Nile in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants, and all the water that was in the Nile was turned into blood.

• Exodus 7:21

  The fish that were in the Nile died, and the Nile stank, and the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile; and the blood was in all the land of Egypt.

• Exodus 12:7

  They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.

• Exodus 12:13

  The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are; when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no destroying plague will be among you when I strike the land of Egypt.

• Exodus 12:22

  Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the bowl, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with some of the blood that is in the bowl. As for you, none shall go out of the door of his house until morning.

• Exodus 12:23

  For YHWH will pass through to strike Egypt; and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, YHWH will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you.

• Exodus 22:2

  If the thief is found breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there is no bloodguilt for him;

• Exodus 22:3

  if the sun has risen on him, there is bloodguilt for him. He shall surely repay; if he has nothing, he shall be sold for his theft.

• Exodus 23:18

  You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread, and the fat of my feast shall not remain until morning.

• Exodus 24:6

  Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he splashed on the altar.

• Exodus 24:8

  Moses took the blood and splashed it on the people and said, “Look, the blood of the covenant that YHWH has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

• Exodus 29:12

  and you shall take some of the blood of the bull and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger, and all the rest of the blood you shall pour out at the base of the altar.

• Exodus 29:16

  You shall slaughter the ram and take its blood and splash it on the altar all around.

• Exodus 29:20

  You shall slaughter the ram and take some of its blood and put it on the lobe of the right ear of Aaron and on the lobe of the ear of his sons, and on the thumb of their right hand and on the big toe of their right foot, and splash the blood on the altar all around.

• Exodus 29:21

  You shall take some of the blood that is on the altar and some of the oil of anointing and sprinkle it on Aaron and on his garments, and on his sons and on the garments of his sons with him; and he shall be holy, and his garments, and his sons and the garments of his sons with him.

• Exodus 30:10

  Aaron shall make expiation on its horns once in the year; with the blood of the sin offering of expiation once in the year he shall make expiation for it throughout your generations. It is most holy to YHWH.”

• Exodus 34:25

  You shall not slaughter the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread, and the sacrifice of the Feast of Passover shall not remain overnight until the morning.

• Leviticus 1:5

  He shall slaughter the young bull before YHWH, and the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall present the blood and splash the blood against the altar all around, the altar that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

• Leviticus 1:11

  He shall slaughter it on the side of the altar northward before YHWH, and the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall splash its blood against the altar all around.

• Leviticus 1:15

  The priest shall bring it to the altar, wring off its head, and offer it up in smoke on the altar; and its blood shall be drained out on the wall of the altar.

• Leviticus 3:2

  He shall lay his hand on the head of his offering and slaughter it at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall splash the blood against the altar all around.

• Leviticus 3:8

  He shall lay his hand on the head of his offering and slaughter it before the tent of meeting, and the sons of Aaron shall splash its blood against the altar all around.

• Leviticus 3:13

  He shall lay his hand on its head and slaughter it before the tent of meeting, and the sons of Aaron shall splash its blood against the altar all around.

• Leviticus 3:17

  It is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings: you shall not eat any fat or any blood.”

• Leviticus 4:5

  The anointed priest shall take some of the blood of the bull and bring it into the tent of meeting.

And 320 more times.