3351. yequm
Lexical Summary
yequm: Substance, existence, property, or possession.

Original Word: יְקוּם
Part of Speech: Noun Masculine
Transliteration: yquwm
Pronunciation: yeh-KOOM
Phonetic Spelling: (yek-oom')
KJV: (living) substance
NASB: living thing
Word Origin: [from H6965 (קוּם - arose)]

1. (properly) standing (extant)
2. (by implication) a living thing

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance
living substance

From quwm; properly, standing (extant), i.e. By implication, a living thing -- (living) substance.

see HEBREW quwm

NAS Exhaustive Concordance
Word Origin
from qum
Definition
substance, existence
NASB Translation
living thing (3).

Brown-Driver-Briggs
יְקוּם noun [masculine] substance, existence כָּלֿ הַיְקוּם = all that subsists Genesis 7:4,23 (man and animal), in more limited sense Deuteronomy 11:6.

Topical Lexicon
Scope of the Term

יְקוּם designates “every living thing,” emphasizing all forms of life that stand or rise upon the earth. Though rare—occurring only three times—its placement in decisive judgment scenes highlights the totality of what is at stake when God acts.

Occurrences in Scripture

1. Genesis 7:4 – anticipated destruction in the Flood.
2. Genesis 7:23 – completed destruction in the Flood.
3. Deuteronomy 11:6 – destruction of Dathan and Abiram’s households.

Narrative Context and Theology

Genesis 7. In the Flood account, יְקוּם frames the extent of the coming judgment:

“For in seven days I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living thing I have made.” (Genesis 7:4)

The term gathers animals, mankind, and all terrestrial life into a single category under God’s sovereignty. When verse 23 records the event’s fulfillment—“He blotted out every living creature on the face of the earth”—the repetition underscores both the certainty of God’s word and the comprehensiveness of His judgment. Simultaneously, Noah’s preservation reveals divine mercy, prefiguring salvation through righteous faith.

Deuteronomy 11. Moses recalls the earth swallowing Dathan and Abiram:

“What He did to Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab the son of Reuben, when…the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their households, their tents, and every living thing that followed them.” (Deuteronomy 11:6)

Here יְקוּם embraces property, servants, and livestock—everything bound to the rebels. The term reinforces covenant accountability: rebellion imperils all that is identified with the sinner.

Implications for Israelite Worship and Ethics

1. Holistic Consequences. Because יְקוּם includes households and possessions, obedience or disobedience affects entire spheres of life, not merely individuals.
2. Stewardship. Life belongs to God; He both grants and withdraws it. Israel’s sacrificial system and purity laws echo this truth by treating blood—“the life of the flesh” (Leviticus 17:11)—as sacred.
3. Covenant Memory. Moses invokes past judgments to motivate present faithfulness, teaching each generation to view its “living things” as covenantal trust, not autonomous property.

Ministry and Pastoral Reflections

• Preaching on Genesis 7 invites listeners to reckon with the breadth of divine judgment and the equal breadth of divine provision in the ark—ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ, “the righteous for the unrighteous” (1 Peter 3:18).
Deuteronomy 11 warns congregations that hidden sin can jeopardize families and communities. Corporate holiness safeguards collective יְקוּם.
• Counseling applications stress stewardship: believers are caretakers of life, households, and resources that remain under God’s ownership.

Canonical and Redemptive Threads

The term’s focus on total life forfeited through judgment points forward to the final consummation when “earth and heaven fled from His presence” (Revelation 20:11) yet is counterbalanced by the promise of a renewed creation where “there will no longer be any curse” (Revelation 22:3). יְקוּם thus anticipates both the severity of the Day of the LORD and the fullness of restored life in Christ.

Key Takeaways

• יְקוּם marks the complete scope of life affected by God’s acts.
• Judgment scenes employing the term teach the certainty, thoroughness, and righteousness of divine justice.
• Preservation amid judgment foreshadows the gospel pattern: salvation provided within, not apart from, a world under sentence.
• The word summons modern readers to holistic obedience, stewardship, and trust in the God who both gives and preserves all life.

Forms and Transliterations
הַיְק֣וּם ׀ הַיְקוּם֙ היקום hay·qūm hayKum hayqūm
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Englishman's Concordance
Genesis 7:4
HEB: אֶֽת־ כָּל־ הַיְקוּם֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר עָשִׂ֔יתִי
NAS: every living thing that I have made.
KJV: and every living substance that I have made
INT: will blot every living i have made

Genesis 7:23
HEB: אֶֽת־ כָּל־ הַיְק֣וּם ׀ אֲשֶׁ֣ר ׀ עַל־
NAS: out every living thing that was upon the face
KJV: And every living substance was destroyed
INT: blotted every living that was upon

Deuteronomy 11:6
HEB: וְאֵ֤ת כָּל־ הַיְקוּם֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר בְּרַגְלֵיהֶ֔ם
NAS: and every living thing that followed
KJV: and their tents, and all the substance that [was] in their possession,
INT: their tents and every living and what followed

3 Occurrences

Strong's Hebrew 3351
3 Occurrences


hay·qūm — 3 Occ.

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