Hebrew word · H1120

בָּמוֹת

bamot

Bamoth

The plural of bamah: a height or ridge, and very often a raised place of worship ("high place"). As a place name, "Bamoth" is "Heights" or "High Places". It may be short for Bamoth-baal, "heights of Baal" (Num 22:41; Josh 13:17).

Appears 4 times in 4 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

§ Bamoth = "high places" or "great high place"

a town on the river Arnon in Moab

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Numbers 21:20

Range of meaning

The plural of bamah: a height or ridge, and very often a raised place of worship ("high place"). As a place name, "Bamoth" is "Heights" or "High Places". It may be short for Bamoth-baal, "heights of Baal" (Num 22:41; Josh 13:17).

Against the English

All the major versions transliterate it as "Bamoth". That is right for a place name but hides the meaning "high places", which a Hebrew hearer would have caught.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Moabite king Mesha's inscription (about 840 BC, line 27) says "I built Beth-bamoth, for it had been destroyed". This shows a town of that name in the same region in the ninth century BC. Bamoth-baal is the height from which Balaam first sees part of Israel's camp (Num 22:41).

From the study of Joshua 13:17

Range of meaning

Bamah (H1116) means a height, a ridge or back, and above all a raised place of worship: an open-air platform or hilltop shrine. The plural is bamot. With ba'al the name means 'High Places of Baal'.

Against the English

English versions leave it as a name (Bamoth-baal), which is right for a place name, but readers lose what it meant. Every Hebrew hearer would have heard 'the shrines of Baal'.

Used elsewhere in the period

Numbers 21:19–20 has 'Bamoth' on Israel's march. In Numbers 22:41 Balak takes Balaam 'up to Bamoth-baal' to see part of Israel and curse them. The Mesha Stele (line 27, about 840 BC) says, 'I built Beth-bamoth, for it had been destroyed', which is probably the same place or one nearby. The site is not certainly identified. Proposals lie on the heights between Dibon and Mount Nebo.

Where it appears

Numbers · 3

  1. Numbers 21:19 בָּמֽוֹת׃ Bamoth

    and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth,

  2. Numbers 21:20 וּמִבָּמ֗וֹת and from Bamoth

    and from Bamoth to the valley in Moab where the top of Pisgah overlooks the wasteland.

    Here: A place name meaning "high places" (the plural of bamah, a height, often a shrine on a height). It is the next stop in a list of camps; the "and from" carries the chain on from verse 19.

  3. Numbers 22:41 בָּמ֣וֹת Bamoth

    The next morning, Balak took Balaam and brought him up to Bamoth-baal. From there he could see the outskirts of the camp of the people.

    Here: The plural of bāmāh, "height, ridge, raised place of worship". Here it is the first part of the place name Bamoth-baal (compare Joshua 13:17). It names a place on high ground that probably held a shrine. There is no preposition: Hebrew can name the destination with a bare noun after a verb of motion.

Joshua · 1

  1. Joshua 13:17 וּבָמ֣וֹת and Bamoth

    to Heshbon and all its cities on the plateau, including Dibon, Bamoth-baal, Beth-baal-meon,

    Here: 'And the heights / high places'. It is the first half of the compound name Bamoth-baal, 'High Places of Baal'.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.