Bible Word Study
עֻמָּה
ʻUmmâh · Ummah, a place in Palestine
עֻמָּה
Ummah, a place in Palestine
Definition
Ummah is a proper noun referring to a specific location in ancient Palestine. It appears only once in the Old Testament, listed among the cities allotted to the tribe of Asher in Joshua 19:30. The text describes it as part of the territory's inheritance, but its exact geographical location remains uncertain to modern scholars. As a place name, it carries no other distinct meanings or senses in the biblical text beyond its identification as a town within the tribal allotment.
Biblical Usage
The word 'Ummah' is used exclusively in Joshua 19:30, within a list of cities given to the tribe of Asher. The context is purely geographical and administrative, detailing the boundaries and settlements of the tribal inheritance after the conquest of Canaan. There are no patterns of usage, as it is a single-occurrence proper noun.
Etymology
The name 'Ummah' is derived from the same Hebrew root (עמם) as the common noun 'ammah' (H5980), which means 'association,' 'people,' or 'community.' As a place name, it likely signified a settlement or gathering place. It is linguistically related to the more common word 'am' (H5971), meaning 'people,' suggesting a location named for its communal or populated character.
Semantic Range
As a place name in an ancient tribal boundary list, 'Ummah' reflects the Israelite practice of defining territory through specific towns and landmarks. Its inclusion in Joshua 19 underscores the fulfillment of God's promise to allocate the land of Canaan to the tribes of Israel. The uncertainty of its exact location today highlights the historical distance between the biblical world and modern geography. Ir (H5892) — A more general term for 'city' or 'town,' whereas Ummah is a specific place name. Qereth (H7017) — Another term for a town or city, but not a synonym for this specific location.
Word Details
How this works
Definitions are from the Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon (BDB, 1906, public domain). Concordance and morphology data are from the OSHB (Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible).
Full methodology & sources →References
- Abbott-Smith, G. (1921) A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament. Edinburgh: T&T Clark. [Public Domain]
- Brown, F., Driver, S.R. and Briggs, C.A. (1906) A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament. Oxford: Clarendon Press. [Public Domain]
- Tyndale House, Cambridge (n.d.) Tyndale Brief lexicon of Extended Strongs for Greek (TBESG). STEPBible. Available at: https://www.stepbible.org. [CC BY 4.0]
- Tyndale House, Cambridge (n.d.) Translators Formatted full LSJ (TFLSJ). STEPBible. Available at: https://www.stepbible.org. [CC BY 4.0]
- Thayer, J.H. (1889) A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. [Public Domain]
- Gesenius, W. (1846) Gesenius' Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament. [Public Domain]
- Dodson, J. (2010) Greek Lexicon. Biblical Humanities. [CC0]