Strong’s H5956 · Hebrew

עָלַם
ʻâlam
aw-lam'

Definition

to veil from sight, i.e. conceal (literally or figuratively)

Etymology

a primitive root;

Where the KJV renders it

  • any ways
  • blind
  • dissembler
  • hide (self)
  • secret (thing)

Every distinct English word the King James Version uses to translate this Hebrew term. The variety shows what readers in English receive across many different surface words — the same underlying word, scattered across the English Bible under different names.

What the first audience heard

A deep-dive treatment of this word is in the works. The featured chapter above carries the long form of what this word meant to its first audience.