H5712 — עֵדָה (edah)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H5712
Original: עֵדָה
Transliteration: edah
Pronunciation: ay-daw'
Part of Speech: Feminine noun
Root: עוּד (ud) — in the original sense of fixture/appointment; feminine of H5707 (ed, "witness")
Occurrences: 140 unique verses (159 tokens) in OT
Books: 12
First Occurrence: Exo 12:3 — "Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

Feminine of H5707 in the original sense of fixture; a stated assemblage (specifically, a concourse, or generally, a family or crowd): assembly, company, congregation, multitude, people, swarm.

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Count	%
congregation (all forms)	130	82%
assembly / assemblies	8	5%
company (all forms)	11	7%
swarm	1	<1%
multitude	1	<1%
people	1	<1%
Other (the, So)	7	4%

Dominant rendering is "congregation" (82%), making edah the quintessential OT "congregation" word. "Company" often applies to Korah's rebel faction (Num 16:5–6, 11, 16).

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Numbers	75	5.8
Joshua	14	2.1
Exodus	15	1.2
Leviticus	12	1.4
Psalms	10	0.4
Judges	5	0.8
1 Kings	2	0.2
Jeremiah	2	0.1
Job	2	0.2
2 Chronicles	1	0.1
Proverbs	1	0.1
Hosea	1	0.5

Overwhelmingly Pentateuchal: 102/140 verses (73%) occur in Exodus through Numbers. Numbers alone accounts for 54% of all uses. The word is tightly bound to the wilderness-period narrative of Israel as an organized community under Mosaic leadership. Post-settlement usage drops sharply; the Psalms occurrences (10x) extend the term into worship/judgment contexts. Completely absent from the prophetic books except Jeremiah (2x) and Hosea (1x).

Semantic Categories¶

1. The Covenant Assembly of Israel¶

The dominant usage: edah denotes the whole Israelite community as a defined, organized body — the people addressed by Moses, subject to law, accountable before YHWH. - Exo 12:3 — "Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb" - Exo 12:47 — "All the congregation of Israel shall keep it" - Num 1:2 — "Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, after their families" - Lev 19:2 — "Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy"

2. The Congregation as Actor — Judicial and Ritual Authority¶

Edah acts collectively in legal proceedings (judging manslayers, executing capital punishment) and in ritual acts (offering sacrifices, receiving commands). - Num 35:24 — "Then the congregation shall judge between the slayer and the revenger of blood" - Num 35:25 — "And the congregation shall deliver the slayer out of the hand of the revenger of blood" - Lev 4:13 — "And if the whole congregation of Israel sin through ignorance... the assembly shall offer a young bullock" - Lev 24:14 — "let all that heard him lay their hands upon his head, and let all the congregation stone him"

3. The Rebellious Congregation¶

Repeatedly in Numbers, edah appears with negative modifiers — "evil congregation," murmuring congregation — during Israel's wilderness failures. - Num 14:27 — "How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me?" - Num 14:35 — "I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me" - Num 16:41 — "all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron" - Num 16:19 — "Korah gathered all the congregation against them unto the door of the tabernacle"

4. Korah's Company — A Sub-Group or Faction¶

In Numbers 16, edah is applied specifically to Korah's rebel faction, showing the word can denote a smaller "company" within the larger assembly. - Num 16:5 — "he spake unto Korah and unto all his company" - Num 16:6 — "Take you censers, Korah, and all his company" - Num 16:11 — "thou and all thy company are gathered together against the LORD" - Psa 106:17–18 — "The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the company of Abiram. And a fire was kindled in their company"

5. Congregation in Worship and Praise¶

In Psalms and Proverbs, edah extends beyond the wilderness to describe gathered worshipers or the righteous community. - Psa 1:5 — "nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous" - Psa 82:1 — "God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods" - Psa 111:1 — "I will praise the LORD with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation" - Psa 74:2 — "Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old"

6. Non-Human Swarm¶

A single usage applies edah to a swarm of bees, showing the root sense of "gathered group" extends beyond human assembly. - Judg 14:8 — "behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcase of the lion"

7. Extended/Figurative Uses¶

Poetic and prophetic uses applying the congregation concept beyond the wilderness narrative. - Job 15:34 — "the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate" - Psa 22:16 — "the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me" - Psa 86:14 — "the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul" - Jer 30:20 — "their congregation shall be established before me"

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
כֹּל (kol)	H3605	82x (59%)	"all the congregation" — collective totality
יִשְׂרָאֵל (Yisrael)	H3478	57x (41%)	"congregation of Israel" — covenant identity
בֵּן (ben)	H1121	52x (37%)	"congregation of the children of [Israel]"
יְהֹוָה (YHWH)	H3068	48x (34%)	divine address to or action upon the congregation
מֹשֶׁה (Mosheh)	H4872	37x (26%)	Moses speaks to / leads the congregation
אַהֲרוֹן (Aharon)	H175	23x (16%)	Aaron beside Moses before the congregation
אֹהֶל (ohel)	H168	14x (10%)	"tabernacle of the congregation" (ohel moed)
מוֹעֵד (moed)	H4150	13x (9%)	the appointed meeting tent — standing phrase
נָשִׂיא (nasi)	H5387	13x (9%)	"princes of the congregation" — tribal leaders
קָהָל (qahal)	H6951	13x (9%)	paired synonym: "assembly of the congregation"

Word Family / Cognates¶

H5707 עֵד (ed) — witness, testimony (the root from which edah is formed as the feminine)
H5713 עֵדָה (edah) — testimony, ordinance (homograph with different meaning from the "witness" sense)
H5715 עֵדוּת (eduth) — testimony (closely related — "ark of the testimony," "tabernacle of testimony")

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
קָהָל (qahal)	H6951	"congregation," "assembly"	qahal = assembly as an act of gathering (from verb "to assemble"); edah = the community as a standing entity
קְהִלָּה (qehillah)	H6952	"congregation," "assembly"	Rare (2x); poetic/late form of qahal
מוֹעֵד (moed)	H4150	"of the congregation" (in "tabernacle of the congregation")	moed = appointed time/place; KJV "congregation" is a loose rendering of the meeting-tent phrase
מַחֲנֶה (machaneh)	H4264	"company"	machaneh = camp/encampment (military/travel); edah = the community itself
סוֹד (sod)	H5475	"assembly"	sod = intimate counsel/secret session; edah = public assembly of the whole community

LXX Mapping¶

Greek Equivalent	Co-occurrences	PMI Score	Notes
συναγωγή (synagoge) G4864	120	32.48	Primary — near-exclusive rendering; "synagogue" derives from this
ἔναντι (enanti) G1725	20	12.24	"before/in the presence of" — contextual rendering, not a synonym

The LXX almost uniformly renders edah as synagoge (120/140 = 86%), making this one of the strongest Hebrew-to-Greek bridges in the OT. This is the primary channel by which the "congregation of Israel" concept entered Greek-speaking Judaism and eventually shaped NT synagogue terminology.