‫ קֶדֶ ם‬qeḏem;* *‫קֵדֶ ם‬ *qēḏem; *‫* קַ דְ מָה‬qaḏmâ; *‫* קִ דְ מָה‬qiḏmâ; *‫* קַ דְ מֹון‬qaḏmôn;

‫ קַדְ מֹונִי‬qaḏmônî

Contents: I. Etymology. II. Occurrences: 1. Overview; 2. East; 3. Prehistoric Times, Primeval Time. III.
LXX. IV. Qumran.

I. Etymology. Regardless of whether Heb. qeḏem, “in front, east, prehistoric times, primeval
time,” is to be construed as a verbal noun or as a primary noun, 2 etymologically related terms
can be found in most of the other Semitic languages, including Akk. qudmu, “front side,
foremost representative”; cf. the adj. qudmû, “foremost, existing from ancient times”; as a
Canaanite loanword in Mari, aqdamātum, “the nearer bank of a river, the eastern bank,” “the
opposite bank”; ištu aqdāmi, “from before, from earlier times”; also the Ugar. adj. qdmy, “old,”
rpym qdmym, “the old rpum”; Phoen. qdm, “prehistoric times,” in the expression “month by
month, for ever as aforetime” (yrḥ mn yrḥ ʿd ʿlm kqdm); cf. also Pun. qdmt, “firstfruits”; also
Arab. qidm/qudm, and qidam, “past, ancient times”; Eth. qĕdma, “in the first place, in front of,
before”; Palm. and Egyp. Aram. qdmyn, “past times”; lqdm and mn qdmn, “previously, earlier”
(also in other Aramaic dialects); Old Aram. qdm, “prehistoric times,” pl. qdm/y/n, adv. “earlier,”
qdmh (Yaʾudi, Imperial Aramaic), “earlier times,” etc.; Biblical Aram. qoḏām, “before”; Rabbinic
Hebrew and Aramaic;12 Syr. qaḏmā, “first, foremost part”; be/leqaḏmā, “first, earlier”; quḏmā,
“choice portion, front side (of an animal)”; Mand. qadamta, qadumia, “in the early morning”;
Sam. qedm, qwdm; Christian Palestinian Aram. qwdm, “before, earlier.”

II. Occurrences
1. Overview. The noun qeḏem occurs 61 times in the OT, including 11 times in Psalms; 9 in
Genesis (twice in 12:8); 6 in Isa. 1–39; 5 in Judges; 4 in Isa. 40–55; 3 each in Ezekiel, Job, and
Lamentations; twice each in Numbers, Deuteronomy, Jeremiah, Micah, and Proverbs; and once
each in Joshua, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, Zechariah, Jonah, Habakkuk, and Nehemiah. Only a few times
does qeḏem mean “in front” either in a spatial (Ps. 139:5; Isa. 9:11[Eng. 12]) or temporal sense
(“long ago, from of old,” Neh. 12:46 [unless ûp̱eqiḏām is to be read instead of miqqeḏem, which
is highly unlikely]; Job 29:2; Ps. 74:12; 77:6, 12[5, 11]; 143:5; Prov. 8:22; Isa. 45:21; 46:10; Jer.
30:20; Lam. 5:21). In approximately half the remaining occurrences, qeḏem has either spatial
(“east, easterly direction”) or temporal (“prehistoric times, primeval times”) connotations in
which the transition between time and space may become fluid.
2. East. Many texts use qeḏem primarily spatially. Like the West Semites in general, so too
did the Israelites take their basic orientation from the east. The east was “in front” (qeḏem), the
west “behind” (ʾāḥôr), the south “to the right” (yāmîn and têmān), and north “to the left.” In a
general sense, of course, this orientation is associated with the sunrise ( ‫ מזרח‬mizrāḥ, also
“east”) and sunset (‫ מערב‬maʿarāḇ, also “west”). This orientation, however, is also associated in
the OT with a more specifically Israelite view of reality adopted probably from the original
Canaanite-Phoenician inhabitants. On this view the Mediterranean Sea (hayyām [haggāḏôl])
refers to the “west,”19 Mt. Zaphon (situated north of Ugarit) the “north,” and the arid southern
region (neg̱eḇ) the “south,” with mizrāḥ and qeḏem consistently representing the “east.” The
noun qeḏem is used only twice in the absolute spatial sense “in the front, forward, east,”
appearing with ʾāḥôr, “behind,” as its counterpart: “You hem me in, behind and before (ʾāḥôr
wāqeḏem), and lay your hand upon me” (Ps. 139:5). Job, abandoned by God, declares in his
third response to Eliphaz the Temanite: “If I go forward/toward the east (qeḏem), he [the divine
judge] is not there; or backward/toward the west (ʾāḥôr), I cannot perceive him; on the left/in
the north (śemʾôl) he hides; and I cannot behold him; I turn to the right/to the south (yāmîn),
but I cannot see him” (23:8–9). Elsewhere the OT uses qeḏem in its spatial meaning either in
prepositional phrases (miqqeḏem [le]) or as nomen rectum in various construct expressions.
The contexts attaching to the latter show that qeḏem by no means always refers to a
geographically fixed area in the OT. The “eastern mountains” (harerê-qeḏem, Nu. 23:7), whence
Balaam allegedly came, seem to be located in Transjordan, possibly in Hauran in the hinterlands
of Deir ʿAlla, and are, of course, ideally suited for underscoring the origin of such seers among
the eastern nomads.25 By contrast, the “east country” (ʾereṣ qeḏem, Gen. 25:6) to which the
sons of Abraham’s concubines are sent (whether meant as a historical or genealogical note)
refers to an expansive region in southern Palestine and northwestern Arabia. The “mountain of
the east” (har haqqeḏem, Gen. 10:30), one of the boundaries of the Joktanites, cannot be
reliably identified; in any event it is probably not to be identified with the Jebal Ṭuwaiq on the
northern edge of Mt. Sinai.28
Hence the benê qeḏem, the “people of the east” (Gen. 29:1; Jgs. 6:3, 33; 7:12; 8:10; 1 K.
5:10[4:30]; Job 1:3; Isa. 11:14; Jer. 49:28; Ezk. 25:4, 10), and the yōšēḇ qeḏem, the “inhabitants
of the east” (Ps. 55:20[19]), are not always to be equated with the nomads and seminomads of
east Jordan and refer rather in a more general fashion to the inhabitants of the Syrian-Arabian
desert. It seems to be of some theological significance that the Dtr History traces wisdom (cf.
above concerning seers, Nu. 23:7) from the east and from Egypt, maintaining that “Solomon’s
wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the east (hoḵmaṯ kol-benê-qeḏem), and all
the wisdom of Egypt” (1 K. 5:10[4:30]; cf. Isa. 2:6; also Jenni).
Only the context can clarify the spatial meaning of miqqeḏem, “in/to/from the east” (“from
the front” only in Isa. 9:11[12]; NRSV “on the east”). Abraham pitched his tent with Bethel on
the west and Ai “on the east” (Gen. 12:8). Lot “chose for himself all the plain of the Jordan, and
Lot journeyed eastward” (Gen. 13:11). Isa. 2:6 mentions “diviners from the east” (though the
MT is problematic; cf. BHS). The geographical designation miqqeḏem (cf. also Gen. 2:8; 11:2;
Zech. 14:4), however, cannot always and completely be distinguished from a temporal
connotation. Although the garden in Eden does indeed lie “in the east” (Gen. 2:8), in the
context of J it is also far removed temporally30 (cf. temporal minnîqeḏem, Ps. 78:2).
The expression miqqeḏem le (8 occurrences) always articulates a relationship between a
known or supposedly known area and a region in the east. Ai is located “east of” Bethel (Josh.
7:2; cf. Gen. 12:8), Riblah “east of” Ain (Nu. 34:11), and so on (cf. also Gen. 12:8; Jgs. 8:11; Ezk.
11:23; Jon. 4:5). Yahweh places the cherubim “at the east of the garden of Eden” (Gen. 3:24;
the semantic shift in 3:22, 24 over against 2:8 derives from a motif inserted at a later stage).
As the directional reference “east,” qeḏem is related to a whole series of other nouns that
derive from the same root but cannot be addressed here, including *qēḏem, “east,” occurring
in the OT exclusively as the accusative of place qēḏmâ (25 times) and consistently meaning
“toward the east” either in geographical descriptions (Gen. 13:14; 25:6; 28:14; Nu. 34:3, 10, 15;
Josh. 15:5; 19:12, 13; 1 K. 17:3; 2 K. 13:17), in instructions regarding the tabernacle (Lev. 1:16;
16:14; Nu. 2:3; 3:38; 10:5), or in connection with temple service (1 K. 7:39; 2 Ch. 4:10; Ezk.
8:16). This group also includes the specialized expression peʾaṯ qēḏmâ, “on/toward the east
side” (in a general geographical sense in Nu. 35:5; Josh. 18:20; in connection with the
tabernacle in Ex. 27:13; 38:13, with the temple in Ezk. 45:7, where the MT should presumably
be maintained; cf. BHS); also *qiḏmâ, “opposite, over against,” or also “east of” in spatial
descriptions (Gen. 2:14; 4:16; 1 S. 13:5; Ezk. 39:11); finally the adj. *qaḏmôn, “east” (fem. only,
Ezk. 47:8) and the accompanying double suffixed adj. qaḏmōnî/qaḏmônî I (10 OT
occurrences),33 occurring 4 times with a temporal meaning (“formerly, earlier”) and 6 times
with the meaning “east” (Ezk. 10:19; 11:1; also the reference to the Dead Sea as the “eastern
sea,” hayyām haqqaḏmōnî, Ezk. 47:18; Joel 2:20; Zech. 14:8; the pendant, the Mediterranean
Sea, is accordingly called the “western sea,” hayyām haʾaḥarôn). Only Job 18:20 refers to “those
in the east” (qaḏmōnîm, with ʾaḥarōnîm as its pendant).
3. Prehistoric Times, Primeval Time. Parallel to its spatial meaning, qeḏem also refers to a
time prior to that of the observer, either relatively in the sense of “earlier” or absolutely in the
sense of “prehistoric times, primeval time.”
Reference to a time relatively “earlier” than the present can be found, e.g., in Job’s appeal
to God (chs. 29–31): “Oh, that I were as in the months of old (keyarḥê-qeḏem), as in the days
when God watched over me” (29:2). In one series of liturgical texts, this temporal relationship
remains somewhat indeterminate. The petitioner remembers the “days of old (yāmîm
miqqeḏem)” (Ps. 143:5; cf. 77:6[5] par. “the years of long ago” [šenôṯ ʿôlāmîm]), or Yahweh’s
“wonders of old (miqqeḏem)” (77:12[11]), who is the petitioner’s “King from of old (malkî
miqqeḏem)” (74:12 MT, though see BHS; cf. Hab. 1:12). The psalmist will proclaim “dark sayings
from of old (ḥîḏôṯ minnî-qeḏem)” (Ps. 78:2), i.e., various mysteries, riddles, and hidden
teachings, having learned “long ago” (qeḏem) from Yahweh’s own witnesses that he has
established them “forever” (leʿôlām) (119:152).
Even such temporally rather indeterminate contexts may already resonate with allusions to
a genuine “prehistoric period, primeval age.” Other passages are more specific concerning such
an age, using qeḏem to refer, e.g., to the patriarchal period (Mic. 7:20) or to the beginnings of
the people of Israel (Ps. 44:2[1]; cf. 74:12), or to the time of David and Asaph (Neh. 12:46). The
prophetic age is also perceived as having been “in former days (yāmîm qaḏmônîm)” (Ezk.
38:17). References in Deutero-Isaiah are less definite. One prophetic proclamation “long ago”
(miqqeḏem) anticipated Yahweh’s actions in history (45:21; 46:10), actions determined “from
days of old” (mîmê qeḏem) (2 K. 19:25 par. Isa. 37:26; Lam. 2:17). In view of the disaster of the
exile, some authors portray an otherwise undefined “earlier” time ([yemê] qeḏem) as the ideal
and goal of renewed hope (Jer. 30:20; 46:26; Lam. 1:7; 5:21). Finally Isa. 43:18 describes the
exilic period as the “former things” (riʾšōnôṯ) and as “things of old” (qaḏmōnîyôṯ) about which
one should no longer think once the return from Babylon has begun.
Some texts use qeḏem in a relatively specific fashion to refer to the “primeval age” as the
mythical, postcreation primeval age, as the most remote primeval age of the world, and finally
even as the age preceding creation itself. Although the OT does not really use qeḏem to refer to
God, the blessing of Moses does speak about a “primeval God” (ʾelōhê qeḏem, “eternal God”)
and his “eternally ancient arms” (zerōʿōṯ ʿôlām, Dt. 33:27). Later wisdom literature accordingly
describes the preexistent divine ḥoḵmâ as “primeval” (Prov. 8:22–23). Yet the created primal
elements of the world can also be described as qeḏem works. The heavens as well as the
mountains are perceived as “ancient” (šemê-qeḏem, Ps. 68:34[33]; harerê-qeḏem, Dt. 33:15; cf.
also the obscure expression naḥal qeḏûmîm, Jgs. 5:21, the “primeval stream,” the “front side of
the stream,” “onrushing torrent”?). In a mythical primeval age (yemê qeḏem dōrôṯ ʿôlāmîm, Isa.
51:9), Yahweh cut Rahab into pieces and pierced the dragon (cf. the “ancient giants” in Sir.
16:7; cf. Gen. 6:4).
Not surprisingly, being able to trace one’s origin to the primeval period is considered
particularly laudable, e.g., with reference to the Egyptian royal line (Isa. 19:11, to the extent the
expression malḵê-qeḏem really does mean “kings of antiquity”; cf. nsyky qdm, “ancient
princes,” Sir. 16:7; the reference may also, of course, be to the “kings of the east”; cf. 1 K.
5:10[4:30]; Isa. 2:6), the city of Sidon (Isa. 23:7), or the anticipated messianic ruler (Mic. 5:1;
qeḏem and yemê ʿôlām “refer according to Mic. 7:14–15, 20 to the time of David [cf. Am. 9:11],
the exodus from Egypt, and the patriarchs”).
III. LXX. LXX translations reflect the confluence of spatial and temporal connotations
exhibited by the OT use of the noun qeḏem. The most frequent translations are anatolḗ (20
times) and archḗ (14 times), though also archaíos (9 times) (cf. Delling, Schlier).
IV. Qumran. The use of qeḏem in the Qumran texts consistently follows the OT features
already discussed. The word occurs 4 times in the Thanksgiving Hymns. 1QH 13:1 extols the
divine “holiness from the eternal primeval age on [to all eternity]” (qwdš mqdm ʿ[wlm lʿwlmy
ʿd], emendation with Carmignac from fr. 17:4), and 13:10 the works of creation, “for you have
established them from before eternity” (hkynwtmh mqdem ʿwlm; qdm in the next, fragmentary
line also refers to the same primeval time). Finally, l. 12 speaks rather obscurely about the
creation of something new (ḥdšwt) “to break asunder things anciently established (lhpr qymy
qdm) and raising up the things of eternity (ʿwlm)” (concerning such new creation, cf. 1QS 4:25).
1QH frs. 7:10 and 16:7 are too fragmentary to allow interpretation.
The introduction to the Damascus Document speaks of those who “depart from the way
and abhor the precept,” asserting that “from the beginning God chose them not” (lʾ bḥr ʾl bhm
mqdm ʿwlm, CD 2:7). The following verse emphasizes that God “hated their generations” for
shedding blood (wytʿb ʾt dwrwt mdm, though mdm [middām] might best be emended to mqdm
[miqqeḏem]). Finally 19:2 says that community members are to live in camps “according to the
ancient order of the land” (ksrk hʾrṣ ʾšr hyh mqdm). 4QMa (491) 11, I, 12 uses qeḏem to describe
the divine throne on which “not a single king of the east/of old shall sit” (bl yšbw bw kwl mlky
qdm; cf. also Isa. 19:11). 4QDibHam a (504) 8 (recto), 3, mentions God’s “miracles from of old”
(nplʾwt mqdm).
The noun qeḏem also occurs twice in the Temple Scroll, both times meaning “east” (rwḥ
hqdm, 11QT 38:13, referring not, as is customary in the OT, to the “east wind”; it also occurs in
the expression bqdm mzrḥ, 39:12, which is apparently the equivalent of simple bqdm, “in the
east”).
 Finally the Heb. adj. qdmwny, “eastern, easterly,” occurs in 1QM 2:12. 1QMyst (27) 1, I, 3,
juxtaposes future mysteries (rz nhyh) with “things of the past” (qdmwnyot), both of which are
inaccessible to human knowledge.
Kronholm†1

1 T. Kronholm, “‫קֶדֶ ם‬,” ed. G. Johannes Botterweck, Helmer Ringgren, and Heinz-Josef Fabry, trans.
Douglas W. Stott, Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.:
William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2003), 505–511.