What does עָמָל mean in the Bible?
The Hebrew noun amal can name hard labor, painful trouble, oppressive mischief, or the sorrow carried through mortal life. Deuteronomy places it beside affliction and oppression heard by God.
Hebrew · H5999
עָמָל
Toil , i.e. wearing effort ; hence, worry , whether of body or mind
Reading a lexicon entry
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עָמָלH5999
What does עָמָל mean in the Bible?
The Hebrew noun amal can name hard labor, painful trouble, oppressive mischief, or the sorrow carried through mortal life. Deuteronomy places it beside affliction and oppression heard by God.
Reader summary
Full entry for עָמָל (H5999) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render H5999?
The BSB source-word alignment has 55 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include trouble (7), and trouble (3), the labor (3), his labor (2), in his labor (2).
Where does עָמָל appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 41:51. Its strongest book concentrations include Ecclesiastes (22), Psalms (13), Job (8), Isaiah (3).
What This Word Actually Means
The Hebrew noun amal can name hard labor, painful trouble, oppressive mischief, or the sorrow carried through mortal life. Deuteronomy places it beside affliction and oppression heard by God. Ecclesiastes repeatedly examines toil under the sun, exposing striving that cannot secure lasting gain while also receiving ordinary enjoyment as God’s gift. Psalms and prophets use the word for harm devised against vulnerable people, anguish honestly lamented, and the suffering borne by the Servant.
The term does not declare every task meaningless, excuse exploitation, or suggest that exhaustion proves spiritual failure. Responsible teaching asks who labors, who benefits, whether injustice is present, and how God meets sufferers. It honors rest, fair work, lament, practical assistance, and the limits of embodied creatures rather than glorifying overwork or blaming people crushed by burdens they did not choose.
How the Bible Uses It
Amal ranges across strenuous labor, lived misery, and trouble caused by evil. Its moral force comes from each passage: work may be enjoyed as gift, exposed as futile striving, suffered as oppression, or condemned as harm plotted against another.
- Deut.26.7
So we called out to the Lord, the God of our fathers; and the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, toil, and oppression.
Israel remembers toil within affliction and oppression, and God’s attentive hearing leads toward concrete deliverance.
- Eccl.2.22
For what does a man get for all the toil and striving with which he labors under the sun?
The Teacher questions what lasting gain human beings obtain from exhausting toil and anxious striving under the sun.
- Eccl.2.24
Nothing is better for a man than to eat and drink and enjoy his work. I have also seen that this is from the hand of God.
The same reflection receives eating, drinking, and satisfaction in work as gifts that come from God’s hand.
- Ps.10.14
But You have regarded trouble and grief; You see to repay it by Your hand. The victim entrusts himself to You; You are the helper of the fatherless.
The psalm confesses that God sees trouble and grief and acts as helper for the vulnerable and fatherless.
- Isa.53.11
After the anguish of His soul, He will see the light of life and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant will justify many, and He will bear their iniquities.
The Servant’s anguish belongs to the passage’s account of costly suffering, vindication, and the justification of many.
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders Ittrouble7×Numbers 23:21, Job 4:8, Job 15:35, Psalms 7:14
and trouble3×Job 5:6, Psalms 25:18, Psalms 55:10
the labor3×Ecclesiastes 2:19, Ecclesiastes 2:20, Ecclesiastes 5:18
his labor2×Ecclesiastes 1:3, Ecclesiastes 3:13
in his labor2×Ecclesiastes 5:19, Ecclesiastes 8:15
labor2×Ecclesiastes 4:4, Ecclesiastes 6:7
mischief2×Psalms 94:20, Isaiah 59:4
the toil2×Ecclesiastes 2:22, Ecclesiastes 10:15
wrongdoing2×Habakkuk 1:3, Habakkuk 1:13
[your] misery1×Job 11:16
After the anguish1×Isaiah 53:11
and [what]1×Ecclesiastes 2:11
and in your labor1×Ecclesiastes 9:9
for his labor1×Ecclesiastes 5:15
for their labor1×Ecclesiastes 4:9
his misery1×Proverbs 31:7
His trouble1×Psalms 7:16
his work1×Ecclesiastes 2:24
I had toiled1×Ecclesiastes 2:18
in the trouble1×Psalms 140:9
is but labor1×Psalms 90:10
miserable1×Job 16:2
my hardship1×Genesis 41:51
my labor1×Ecclesiastes 2:10
my work1×Ecclesiastes 2:10
of misery1×Job 7:3
of the burdens1×Psalms 73:5
only trouble1×Jeremiah 20:18
oppressive1×Isaiah 10:1
the fruit of others’ labor1×Psalms 105:44
the misery1×Judges 10:16
the sorrow1×Job 3:10
to his labor1×Ecclesiastes 4:8
to trouble1×Job 5:7
toil1×Deuteronomy 26:7
was troublesome1×Psalms 73:16
who has labored1×Ecclesiastes 2:21
with hard labor1×Psalms 107:12
with toil1×Ecclesiastes 4:6
Show sample aligned rows
Genesis 41:51עֲמָלִ֔יtomy hardshipNoun - masculine singular construct | first person common singularNumbers 23:21עָמָ֖לtotroubleNoun - masculine singularDeuteronomy 26:7עֲמָלֵ֖נוּtotoilNoun - masculine singular construct | first person common pluralJudges 10:16בַּעֲמַ֥לtothe miseryPreposition-b | Noun - masculine singular constructJob 3:10עָ֝מָ֗לtothe sorrowNoun - masculine singularJob 4:8עָמָ֣לtotroubleNoun - masculine singularJob 5:6עָמָֽל׃toand troubleNoun - masculine singularJob 5:7לְעָמָ֣לtoto troublePreposition-l | Noun - masculine singularJob 7:3עָ֝מָ֗לtoof miseryNoun - masculine singularJob 11:16עָמָ֣לto[your] miseryNoun - masculine singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowGenesis 41:51
Aligned rows55
Books represented11
Genesis1Numbers1Deuteronomy1Judges1Job8Psalms13Proverbs2Ecclesiastes22Isaiah3Jeremiah1Habakkuk2
Source forms
עָמָ֖ל7x‘ā·mālNumbers 23:21, Psalms 73:16, Ecclesiastes 4:6, Isaiah 10:1
עָמָ֣ל5x‘ā·mālJob 4:8, Job 11:16, Job 16:2, Psalms 90:10
עֲמָלִ֔י4x‘ă·mā·lîGenesis 41:51, Ecclesiastes 2:10, Ecclesiastes 2:18, Ecclesiastes 2:19
עָ֝מָ֗ל3x‘ā·mālJob 3:10, Job 7:3, Psalms 7:14
עֲמָל֔וֹ3x‘ă·mā·lōwEcclesiastes 1:3, Ecclesiastes 2:22, Ecclesiastes 4:8
בַּעֲמָל֑וֹ2xba·‘ă·mā·lōwEcclesiastes 2:24, Ecclesiastes 5:19
וְעָמָ֣ל2xwə·‘ā·mālPsalms 55:10, Habakkuk 1:3
עֲמַ֥ל2x‘ă·malEcclesiastes 6:7, Ecclesiastes 10:15
Parsing patterns
Noun - masculine singular20xNumbers 23:21, Job 3:10, Job 4:8, Job 5:6
Noun - masculine singular construct | third person masculine singular6xPsalms 7:16, Ecclesiastes 1:3, Ecclesiastes 2:22, Ecclesiastes 3:13
Noun - masculine singular construct | first person common singular5xGenesis 41:51, Ecclesiastes 2:10, Ecclesiastes 2:18, Ecclesiastes 2:19
Preposition-b | Noun - masculine singular construct | third person masculine singular4xEcclesiastes 2:24, Ecclesiastes 5:15, Ecclesiastes 5:19, Ecclesiastes 8:15
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular3xPsalms 55:10, Proverbs 24:2, Habakkuk 1:3
Noun - masculine singular construct3xPsalms 140:9, Ecclesiastes 6:7, Ecclesiastes 10:15
Preposition-b | Noun - masculine singular construct2xJudges 10:16, Psalms 73:5
Article | Noun - masculine singular1xEcclesiastes 2:20
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- When addressing burnout or poverty, include concrete attention to workload, compensation, health, caregiving, and access to rest.
- When someone describes crushing labor or grief, listen before assigning a spiritual lesson or praising endurance.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim that exhaustion reveals weak faith or that prosperity proves God approves a person’s labor practices.
- Do not claim that accepting daily joy requires silence about oppression, dangerous work, or preventable suffering.
Evidence Summary
Hebrew word. toil , i.e. wearing effort ; hence, worry , whether of body or mind
Source Gloss
toil , i.e. wearing effort ; hence, worry , whether of body or mind
Extended definitionSource: Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon + Brown-Driver-Briggs
toil, i.e. wearing effort; hence, worry, whether of body or mind BDB: trouble Usage: grievance(-vousness), iniquity, labour, mischief, miserable(-sery), pain(-ful), perverseness, sorrow, toil, travail, trouble, wearisome, wickedness.
Grammatical Forms
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Word Origins
עָמָל is built from this root:
עָמַלH5998
Part of These Phrases
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
For the Preacher and Teacher
Amal refuses simple slogans about work. Israel’s confession in Deuteronomy remembers toil as part of oppression that God saw and answered, so the word can direct attention toward people carrying imposed burdens. Ecclesiastes probes the limits of achievement: toil cannot defeat death, guarantee wise succession, or quiet the restless appetite for more. Yet the book also calls daily food, drink, companionship, and satisfaction in labor gifts from God.
The psalms insist that God sees the trouble powerful people cause and receives the victim’s trust. Isaiah 53 places anguish within the Servant’s costly mission without turning suffering itself into a virtue. Teaching should therefore resist both despair and productivity worship. Christians may work diligently, receive ordinary joys gratefully, lament exhausting conditions truthfully, and challenge systems that consume people for another’s gain.
Rest, fair wages, shared burdens, medical care, and practical help are not retreats from faith. They are fitting responses for creatures whose labor is limited and for neighbors whom God sees in trouble.
Anchor passage
Deut.26.7
Doctrinal connections
- God hears oppressed people whose affliction and toil are hidden or dismissed by human power.
- Creation gives work dignity, while the fall subjects labor to frustration, pain, exploitation, and death.
- Ecclesiastes receives ordinary enjoyment as divine gift without pretending that achievement conquers mortality.
- Biblical lament brings sorrow and trouble before God rather than requiring a cheerful religious performance.
- The suffering Servant bears anguish toward redemption without making every imposed burden righteous or necessary.
- Neighbor love challenges exploitative workloads and shares material burdens with people who are weary or poor.
Amal is a Hebrew noun whose range includes toil, hardship, sorrow, and trouble, including trouble deliberately caused. Translation must follow the surrounding verbs, agents, and parallel terms rather than assigning one moral meaning everywhere.
From Old to New Testament
Jesus invites the burdened to come to Him, confronts leaders who load people with heavy burdens, and teaches servants to receive daily provision from the Father. The apostles value honest labor while commanding generous care, mutual burden-bearing, and protection against exploitative idleness or mastery.