H8552 — תָּמַם (tamam)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H8552
Original: תָּמַם
Transliteration: tamam
Pronunciation: taw-mam'
Part of Speech: Verb (primitive root)
Occurrences: 61 unique verses (80 tokens) across 16 books
First Occurrence: Gen 47:15 — "And when money failed in the land of Egypt..."
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

A primitive root; to complete, in a good or a bad sense, literal or figurative, transitive or intransitive — accomplish, cease, be clean (pass-)ed, consume, have done, (come to an, have an, make an) end, fail, come to the full, be all gone, be all here, be (make) perfect, be spent, sum, be (shew self) upright, be wasted, whole.

Verb Stem Distribution¶

Stem	Count	%	Typical Meaning
Qal	55	87%	be complete, be finished, be consumed, come to an end
Hiphil	6	10%	bring to completion, finish, consume (causative)
Hithpael	2	3%	show oneself complete/upright (reflexive)

Qal overwhelmingly dominant. Qal Perfect 3p (15×) and InfCon (17×) are the most common forms — often in temporal clauses ("when X was finished/consumed"). Hithpael appears only in Psa 18:25 // 2 Sam 22:26 ("with the upright thou wilt shew thyself upright").

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Verses	%
consumed / be consumed / were consumed	16	26%
finished / were finished / was finished	5	8%
ended / were ended / was ended	5	8%
failed	2	3%
spent / were spent / be spent	4	7%
clean (passed over)	3	5%
upright / shew thyself upright	3	5%
perfect / is perfect	2	3%
end / make an end	3	5%
done / had done	3	5%
accomplish(ed)	2	3%
wasted / be wasted	2	3%
Other (sum, come to the full, etc.)	11	18%

The "consumed" cluster (26%) and "finished/ended" cluster (16%) together account for the majority. The moral sense "upright/perfect" is a minority usage (8%).

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Joshua	9	1.4
Lamentations	2	1.3
Jeremiah	10	0.7
Deuteronomy	6	0.6
Daniel	2	0.6
2 Samuel	3	0.4
1 Kings	3	0.4
Numbers	4	0.3
Psalms	7	0.3
2 Kings	2	0.3
Ezekiel	4	0.3
Job	2	0.2
Isaiah	3	0.2
Genesis	2	0.1
Leviticus	1	0.1
1 Samuel	1	0.1

Joshua highest density (1.4/100v) — crossing-and-conquest completion formulas. Jeremiah highest raw count (10) — judgment-consumption contexts. Absent from all Minor Prophets, Pentateuchal wisdom, Chronicles, Ezra-Nehemiah, and all NT.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Being Consumed / Exhausted (Resources, People)¶

The most frequent sense — supplies running out, people perishing, strength spent. - Gen 47:15 — "And when money failed in the land of Egypt" - Num 14:35 — "in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die" - Deut 2:14–16 — "until all the generation of the men of war were consumed and dead" - Jer 44:27 — "all the men of Judah... shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine" - Lam 3:22 — "It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed" - Psalm 104:35 — "Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth"

2. Completion / Finishing of an Action or Process¶

Marks the endpoint of a task, event, or period — often in temporal clauses with עַד (ʻad "until"). - Deut 31:24 — "when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law" - Jos 4:10 — "until every thing was finished that the LORD commanded Joshua" - Jos 10:20 — "when Joshua and the children of Israel had made an end of slaying them" - 1 Ki 6:22 — "until he had finished all the house" - 1 Ki 7:22 — "so was the work of the pillars finished" - Job 31:40 — "The words of Job are ended"

3. Crossing / Passing Over Completely¶

A distinctive Joshua cluster — all Israel "clean passed over" (tamam + ʻabar). - Jos 3:16 — "the people passed over right against Jericho" (waters cut off until people completely crossed) - Jos 3:17 — "until all the people were clean passed over Jordan" - Jos 4:1 — "when all the people were clean passed over Jordan" - Jos 4:11 — "when all the people were clean passed over"

4. Coming to Fullness / Completion of a Period¶

Temporal and prophetic milestones. - Gen 47:18 — "When that year was ended" - Jer 1:3 — "unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah" - Dan 8:23 — "when the transgressors are come to the full" - Dan 9:24 — "to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins"

5. Moral Integrity / Uprightness¶

The Hithpael reflexive: "show oneself complete/blameless." - 2 Sam 22:26 — "with the upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright" - Psalm 18:25 — "with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright" - Psalm 19:13 — "then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent"

6. Judgment Consumption by God¶

Divine action bringing people or nations to a destructive end. - Eze 22:15 — "I will scatter thee... and will consume thy filthiness" - Jer 14:15 — "by sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed" - Jer 24:10 — "I will send the sword... till they be consumed from off the land" - Psalm 73:19 — "they are utterly consumed with terrors"

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
כֹּל (kol)	H3605	23× (38%)	"all the people/generation were consumed/finished"
עַד (ʻad)	H5704	23× (38%)	"until [they were] consumed/finished" temporal clauses
אֶרֶץ (ʼerets)	H776	9× (15%)	"consumed from off the land" judgment formula
יִשְׂרָאֵל (Yisraʼel)	H3478	9× (15%)	Israel as subject completing crossing/wandering
בּוֹא (boʼ)	H935	8× (13%)	"when... came to pass / were come to the full"
חֶרֶב (chereb)	H2719	7× (11%)	"consumed by the sword" destruction formula
עָבַר (ʻabar)	H5674	7× (11%)	"clean passed over" — Joshua Jordan crossing
עַם (ʻam)	H5971	7× (11%)	"all the people were finished [crossing/dying]"
שָׁנֶה (shaneh)	H8141	7× (11%)	"when that year was ended / forty years until consumed"
כָּלָה (kalah)	H3615	6× (10%)	Near-synonym pair: tamam + kalah in parallel
רָעָב (raʻab)	H7458	6× (10%)	"consumed by famine" judgment formula

Synonyms¶

H3615 כָּלָה (kalah) — to end, finish, consume, be complete. The closest synonym; both mean "be finished/consumed" but kalah emphasizes cessation/ending while tamam emphasizes reaching completeness/totality.
H5486 סוּף (suph) — to come to an end, cease. Emphasizes terminal cessation.
H6663 צָדַק (tsadaq) — be righteous, be just. Overlaps in the moral-integrity semantic space (tamam Hithpael "show oneself upright").
H5352 נָקָה (naqah) — be clean, be innocent. Overlaps with tamam's "blameless/clean" sense.

Word Family / Cognates¶

H8535 תָּם (tam) — complete, whole, perfect, plain (adjective). Describes a person or thing as whole/blameless. Gen 25:27 Jacob is ish tam "plain man."
H8537 תֹּם (tom) — completeness, integrity, fullness (noun). "Integrity of heart" — Gen 20:5, 1 Ki 9:4, Psa 101:2.
H8549 תָּמִים (tamiym) — complete, whole, sound, perfect, without blemish (adjective). Used for sacrificial animals without blemish (Exo 12:5, Lev 1:3) and for moral blamelessness (Gen 6:9 Noah, Gen 17:1 Abraham).

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
כָּלָה (kalah)	H3615	"consumed," "be consumed," "finished," "end"	kalah = bring to cessation, exhaust completely; tamam = reach wholeness/totality; kalah more destructive in nuance
אָכַל (ʼakal)	H398	"consumed"	ʼakal = eat/devour (literal consumption by fire/mouth); tamam = be used up, reach completion
כָּלַל (kalal)	H3634	"perfect," "finished," "complete"	kalal = make perfect (transitive, perfecting action); tamam = be complete (intransitive, resulting state)
שָׁלֵם (shalam)	H7999	"finish," "complete"	shalam = make whole transactionally (repay, recompense); tamam = inherent wholeness/totality
אָפֵס (ʼaphes)	H656	"fail," "failed"	aphes = cease/disappear (5v, very rare); tamam = be complete/exhausted (61v, broader range)

Semantic Domain¶

[002001003003] Complete — with H1214 batsa, H1580 gamal, H1584 gamar, H1585 gamar (Aram.), H3117 yom
[002002002006] Non-Exist — overlaps with destruction/consumption verbs
[002003003015] Innocent — moral completeness/integrity sense

LXX Mapping¶

Greek Equivalent	Co-occurrences	PMI Score	Notes
ἐκλείπω (ekleipo) G1587	22	18.71	Primary — "fail, cease, be eclipsed"
συντελέω (synteleo) G4931	9	10.65	"complete entirely, finish, consummate"
τέλος (telos) G5056	7	9.19	"end, completion, goal"
λιμός (limos) G3042	6	9.23	"famine" — contextual, not semantic mapping
τήκω (teko) G5080	3	7.24	"melt" — for consumption/wasting sense
παύω (pauo) G3973	3	6.08	"cease, stop"

The LXX primary equivalent ekleipo (G1587) captures the "fail/cease/be consumed" sense. Synteleo captures the "complete entirely" sense. The split reflects tamam's dual polarity: positive completion vs. negative consumption.