אדם ʾādam – to be(come) red
Semantic Fields:
Colours
Author(s):
John E. Hartley
First published: 2026-01-27
Citation: John E. Hartley, אדם ʾādam – to be(come) red,
Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Database (sahd-online.com), 2026
Introduction
Grammatical type: verb qal, pual, hiph., and hithp.
Occurrences: 10x HB (6/2/2); 0x Sir; 0x Qum; 0x inscr. (Total: 10).
- Torah - pual: Exod 25:5; 26:14; 35:7, 23; 36:19; 39:34;
- Nebiim - pual: Nah 2:4;
- Nebiim - hiph.: Isa 1:18;
- Ketubim - qal: Lam 4:7;
- Ketubim - hithp.: Prov 23:31.
Text doubtful
B.1 In Isa 63:1 BHS recommends emending מֵאֱדוֹם in the collocation בָּא מֵאֱדוֹם חֲמוּץ בְּגָדִים, ‘one comes from Edom in red stained garments’, to מְאָדָּם, ‘reddened’. This proposed change is not compelling, because it lacks textual support and because ‘from Edom’ is paralleled in the second line by מִבָּצְרָה, ‘from Bozrah’, a city in Edom—thus ‘Edom’ identifies the location of Bozrah (Gradwohl 1963:11). Another obstacle to the proposed emendation is the suggestion of its supporters to change the toponym בצרה, ‘Bozrah’, to בֹּצֵר, qal part., ‘a grape picker’. Koole (2001:331-32) judges the resulting phrase ‘more than a grape picker’ to offer little sense in this context, especially since a worker’s clothing becomes stained from treading grapes, not from picking them. Since the latter emendation has persuaded few contemporary scholars, the case for the initial emendation is greatly weakened. Furthermore, in the present text there is a play on the sound of אֱדוֹם, ‘Edom’, and אָדוֹם, ‘red’ (Whybray 1975:253), providing additional support for the MT reading.
7. Conclusion
אדם in the qal references a range of colours, ‘orange’, ‘brown’, ‘reddish brown’, ‘red’, and even ‘bright red’. In reference to humans, it describes the ‘copper’ colour of a healthy complexion. After rams’ skins and shields were tanned, they appeared ‘reddish-brown’. In fact, the Heb. lexeme מאדם functions as a technical term for ‘tanned’ (King and Stager, LBI, 162-63). Metaphorically human sins are described as ‘red’; to ensure that אדם, ‘red’, in this collocation is understood as referencing a ‘bright red’ the comparative phrase כתולע, ‘like scarlet’, is added (Isa 1:18). This comparison indicates that when אדם references bright red, it is usually not as bright as scarlet. אדם also stands for ‘deep burgundy’ colour of wine. In the pual, hiph., and hithp. אדם describes something ‘being made brown, reddish brown, or red’.
Bibliography
For the abbreviations see the List of Abbreviations.
Roland Gradwohl, Die Farben im Alten Testament: Eine terminologische Studie (BZAW, 83), Berlin: Töpelmann.
Jan L. Koole, Isaiah, III/3: Isaiah Chapters 56-66 (HCOT), Peeters: Leuven.
Roger Norman Whybray, Isaiah 40-66 (NCB), Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans; London: Marshall, Morgan & Scott Publishers.
For this entry, see further John E. Hartley, The Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Colour Lexemes (2010), 107-12 (Printed publications).