זַ֫עַם
za.am
indignation
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# זַעַם (Za'am): Biblical Indignation The Hebrew word *za'am* refers to indignation—a strong emotional response of displeasure and anger. Based on its twenty-two occurrences throughout the Bible, this term captures a specific type of reaction: the kind of outrage that arises when something is perceived as offensive or wrong. The word functions as a noun, allowing biblical writers to describe this emotional state as a concrete phenomenon that can be directed at people, actions, or circumstances. The frequency of *za'am* across the biblical corpus—appearing two dozen times rather than being rare or concentrated in a single book—indicates that the concept held consistent importance in Hebrew thought. This regularity suggests that ancient Hebrew speakers recognized indignation as a meaningful and distinguishable emotional category, worthy of its own distinct term rather than being subsumed under broader words for anger or wrath. The repeated use implies that this particular shade of emotion—indignation specifically—was significant enough to warrant dedicated vocabulary in religious and narrative contexts. While the lexical data provided does not specify the particular contexts in which *za'am* appears or its theological applications, the existence of this specialized term reflects how biblical Hebrew language was equipped to express nuanced emotional responses. The word represents a vocabulary choice made by ancient writers to convey something more precise than generic anger: the specific indignation that accompanies perceived inj
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
22 total occurrences across the text
There is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation, neither is there any health in my bones because of my sin.
Psalms 69:24Pour out your indignation on them. Let the fierceness of your anger overtake them.
Psalms 78:49He threw on them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, indignation, and trouble, and a band of angels of evil.
Psalms 102:10because of your indignation and your wrath; for you have taken me up and thrown me away.
Isaiah 10:5Alas Assyrian, the rod of my anger, the staff in whose hand is my indignation!
Isaiah 10:25For yet a very little while, and the indignation against you will be accomplished, and my anger will be directed to his destruction.”
Isaiah 13:5They come from a far country, from the uttermost part of heaven, even Yahweh, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.
Isaiah 26:20Come, my people, enter into your rooms, and shut your doors behind you. Hide yourself for a little moment, until the indignation is past.
Isaiah 30:27Behold, Yahweh’s name comes from far away, burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke. His lips are full of indignation. His tongue is as a devouring fire.
Jeremiah 10:10But Yahweh is the true God. He is the living God, and an everlasting King. At his wrath, the earth trembles. The nations aren’t able to withstand his indignation.
Jeremiah 15:17I didn’t sit in the assembly of those who make merry and rejoice. I sat alone because of your hand, for you have filled me with indignation.
Jeremiah 50:25Yahweh has opened his armory, and has brought out the weapons of his indignation; for the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, has a work to do in the land of the Chaldeans.
Lamentations 2:6He has violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were of a garden. He has destroyed his place of assembly. Yahweh has caused solemn assembly and Sabbath to be forgotten in Zion. In the indignation of his anger, he has despised the king and the priest.
Ezekiel 21:31I will pour out my indignation on you. I will blow on you with the fire of my wrath. I will deliver you into the hand of brutish men, skillful to destroy.
Ezekiel 22:24“Son of man, tell her, ‘You are a land that is not cleansed, nor rained on in the day of indignation.’
Ezekiel 22:31Therefore I have poured out my indignation on them. I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath. I have brought their own way on their heads,” says the Lord Yahweh.
Daniel 8:19He said, “Behold, I will make you know what will be in the latter time of the indignation; for it belongs to the appointed time of the end.
Daniel 11:36“The king will do according to his will. He will exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and will speak marvelous things against the God of gods. He will prosper until the indignation is accomplished; for that which is determined will be done.
Hosea 7:16They return, but not to the Most High. They are like a faulty bow. Their princes will fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue. This will be their derision in the land of Egypt.
Nahum 1:6Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the fierceness of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken apart by him.
Habakkuk 3:12You marched through the land in wrath. You threshed the nations in anger.
Zephaniah 3:8“Therefore wait for me”, says Yahweh, “until the day that I rise up to the prey, for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour on them my indignation, even all my fierce anger, for all the earth will be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.