H539 — אָמַן (ʼaman)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H539
Original: אָמַן
Transliteration: ʼaman
Pronunciation: aw-man
Part of Speech: Verb (primitive root)
Root: ʼ-m-n (אמן) — to be firm, support, nurture
Occurrences: 102 unique verses (133 tokens) across 24 books
First Occurrence: Gen 15:6 — "And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness."
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

A primitive root; properly, to build up or support; to foster as a parent or nurse; figuratively to render (or be) firm or faithful, to trust or believe, to be permanent or quiet; morally to be true or certain. Hence: assurance, believe, bring up, establish, fail, be faithful (of long continuance, stedfast, sure, surely, trusty, verified), nurse, (-ing father), (put), trust, turn to the right.

Verb Stem Distribution¶

Stem	Count	Typical Meaning
Hiphil	~51	to believe, trust, put confidence in (causative: "to consider firm/reliable")
Niphal	~32	to be faithful, established, sure, confirmed, trustworthy (passive/stative)
Qal	~8	to nurse, foster, support (participle: caretaker, nursing father/mother)

The Hiphil dominates and carries the core "believe/trust" meaning. The Niphal expresses the passive result — what is firm, established, or faithful. The Qal participle is limited to the concrete sense of physical nurturing/fostering.

Additionally, ~25 occurrences are the interjection אָמֵן (amen, "surely, truly") derived from the same root but functioning as a separate lexical item. A few noun forms also appear (ʼomen "faithfulness," ʼamman "artisan").

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Verses	%
believe/believed/believeth	~32	31%
faithful/the faithful	~16	16%
sure/a sure	~9	9%
be established/established	~5	5%
be verified	~3	3%
trust/trusted	~4	4%
nursing father/nurse/brought up	~7	7%
stedfast	~2	2%
assurance	1	1%
fail	1	1%
stand fast	1	1%
of long continuance	1	1%
Other minor variants	~20	20%

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Jonah	1	2.1
Habakkuk	1	1.8
Lamentations	2	1.3
Isaiah	14	1.1
Hosea	2	1.0
Micah	1	1.0
Job	10	0.9
Psalms	17	0.7
2 Chronicles	5	0.6
Exodus	7	0.6
1 Samuel	5	0.6
Esther	1	0.6
Deuteronomy	5	0.5
Proverbs	5	0.5
Nehemiah	2	0.5
1 Kings	3	0.4
2 Kings	3	0.4
2 Samuel	3	0.4
Jeremiah	4	0.3
Numbers	4	0.3
Genesis	3	0.2
Judges	1	0.2
1 Chronicles	2	0.2
Ruth	1	—

Concentrated in Psalms (17v), Isaiah (14v), and Job (10v). The Exodus/Numbers cluster relates to Israel's belief in God's signs; the Psalms cluster combines personal trust declarations with descriptions of God's faithful testimonies. Isaiah contains the pivotal Isa 7:9 wordplay and the messianic Isa 53:1. Absent from Ezekiel, Daniel (Hebrew sections), Song of Songs, and most Minor Prophets.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Believing/Trusting God (Hiphil — the faith response)¶

Gen 15:6 — "And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness."
Exo 14:31 — "And Israel saw that great work... and the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD, and his servant Moses."
Num 14:11 — "How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me?"
Jon 3:5 — "So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast."

2. Failure/Refusal to Believe (Hiphil negated — unbelief)¶

Num 20:12 — "Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel."
Deu 1:32 — "Yet in this thing ye did not believe the LORD your God."
Psa 78:22 — "Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation."
Psa 106:24 — "Yea, they despised the pleasant land, they believed not his word."

3. Faithful/Trustworthy Person or Thing (Niphal participle — established character)¶

Num 12:7 — "My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house."
1Sa 2:35 — "I will raise me up a faithful priest."
Neh 9:8 — "And foundest his heart faithful before thee."
Pro 25:13 — "As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger."

4. Sure/Established (Niphal — of things, covenants, words)¶

2Sa 7:16 — "Thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever."
Psa 19:7 — "The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple."
Psa 93:5 — "Thy testimonies are very sure."
Isa 55:3 — "I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David."

5. Nursing/Fostering (Qal participle — physical nurture)¶

Num 11:12 — "Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father beareth the sucking child."
2Ki 10:1, 5 — "the bringers up of Ahab's children" (guardians/tutors)
Est 2:7 — "And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther."
Isa 49:23 — "Kings shall be thy nursing fathers."

6. Believe/Disbelieve a Report or Evidence (Hiphil — cognitive acceptance)¶

1Ki 10:7 — "Howbeit I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it."
Isa 53:1 — "Who hath believed our report?"
Lam 4:12 — "The kings of the earth... would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy should have entered into the gates of Jerusalem."
Job 29:24 — "If I laughed on them, they believed it not."

7. Believing Conditionally / The Isa 7:9 Wordplay (Hiphil–Niphal interplay)¶

Isa 7:9 — "If ye will not believe (taʼaminu, Hiphil), surely ye shall not be established (teʼamenu, Niphal)."
2Ch 20:20 — "Believe (haʼaminu) in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established (teʼamenu); believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper."

This category captures the deliberate stem-play that links active trust to passive establishment — a defining theological feature of this root.

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
יְהֹוָה (YHWH)	H3068	32x	"believe in the LORD" / "the LORD is faithful"
לֹא (lo)	H3808	38x	"did not believe" — negated belief is extremely common
דָּבָר (dabar)	H1697	15x	"believed his words" / "the word shall be verified"
אֱלֹהִים (elohim)	H430	14x	"believed God" / "the faithful God"
עֶבֶד (ebed)	H5650	13x	"faithful servant" / "believed his servant Moses"
שָׁמַע (shama)	H8085	12x	"believe... nor hearken" (paired obedience)
רָאָה (raah)	H7200	10x	"saw... and believed" (sight confirming faith)
עָשָׂה (asah)	H6213	10x	"believed... for his wondrous works"

Word Family / Cognates¶

H530 אֱמוּנָה (emunah) — faithfulness, fidelity, steadiness (feminine noun from same root; 45v)
H529 אֵמוּן (emun) — faithful, trusting (adjective; 5v)
H543 אָמֵן (amen) — "surely, truly" (interjection; 30v)
H571 אֶמֶת (emeth) — truth, faithfulness, stability (125v; the ʼ-m-n noun of result)
H544 אֹמֶן (omen) — faithfulness (hapax Isa 25:1)
H540 אֲמַן (aman, Aramaic) — to believe, be faithful (Aramaic cognate; Dan 6:23)
H548 אֲמָנָה (amanah) — covenant, support, sure ordinance (Neh 10:1, 11:23)

Synonyms¶

H982 בָּטַח (batach) — to trust, rely on, be confident (broader "feel secure," less cognitive than aman)
H571 אֶמֶת (emeth) — truth, faithfulness (noun form of the same root)
H3559 כּוּן (kun) — to be established, set up, prepared (overlaps with Niphal aman but emphasizes physical positioning)
H6664 צֶדֶק (tsedeq) — righteousness (linked through Gen 15:6 — believing counted as righteousness)

Antonyms¶

H5006 נָאַץ (naats) — to spurn, scorn, despise
H6342 פָּחַד (pachad) — to dread, be in awe (fear replacing trust)
H2181 זָנָה (zanah) — to commit whoredom (figurative unfaithfulness)
H3585 כַּחַשׁ (kachash) — deceit, deception (opposite of truth/faithfulness)
H4784 מָרָה (marah) — to rebel, be disobedient
H4820 מִרְמָה (mirmah) — deceit, treachery
H5637 סָרַר (sarar) — to be stubborn, rebellious

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
בָּטַח (batach)	H982	"trust" (3v for H539, 18v for H982)	batach = feel secure, rely on for safety (emotional confidence); aman = consider firm/reliable (cognitive conviction)
אֱמוּנָה (emunah)	H530	"faithful" (3v for H530)	emunah is the noun "faithfulness" as a quality; aman is the verbal act of believing or being faithful
אֶמֶת (emeth)	H571	"faithful" (1v for H571)	emeth = truth/reliability as an attribute; aman = the active disposition of trust or the state of being established

Semantic Domain¶

Non-Move / Stability — words expressing firmness, immobility: emunah (H530), chazaq (H2388), atsar (H6113)
Confident / Strong — words expressing assurance and strength: ammits (H533), amats (H553)
Endure / Persist — words expressing lasting quality: ethan (H386), emunah (H530), emeth (H571)
Faithful / Reliable — words expressing trustworthiness: emun (H529), emunah (H530), emeth (H571)
True / Verified — words expressing certainty: bachan (H974), kun (H3559)
Care / Nurture — words expressing fostering: amnah (H545/546), kul (H3557)

LXX Mapping¶

Greek Equivalent	Strong's	Co-occurrences	PMI	Notes
πιστεύω (pisteuo)	G4100	43x	7.68	Primary — "to believe/have faith"; dominant rendering of Hiphil
πιστός (pistos)	G4103	28x	7.19	"faithful, trustworthy"; dominant rendering of Niphal participle
πιστόω (pistoo)	G4104	8x	7.35	"to assure, confirm"; rare verb
μάρτυς (martys)	G3144	4x	4.32	"witness"; for "faithful witness" contexts
παῖς (pais)	G3816	7x	2.18	"child, servant"; for Qal "nursing/foster" contexts

The LXX faithfully mirrors the stem split: Hiphil → πιστεύω (the act of believing), Niphal → πιστός (the quality of being faithful/established). This bridge is the direct conduit through which OT aman-faith enters NT theology (cf. Rom 4:3 quoting Gen 15:6; Gal 3:6; Heb 11).