Hebrew word · H1337
בַּת־רַבִּים
rabim
Bath-rabbim
Literally 'daughter of many' or 'daughter of multitudes'. 'Daughter' is ordinary Hebrew usage for a city or its people ('daughter of Zion'). As a proper name it is found only here.
Appears 2 times in 1 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
§ Bath-rabbim = "daughter of multitudes"
the city of Heshbon or one of its gates
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 Song of Songs 7:4
- Range of meaning
Literally 'daughter of many' or 'daughter of multitudes'. 'Daughter' is ordinary Hebrew usage for a city or its people ('daughter of Zion'). As a proper name it is found only here.
- Against the English
Most versions transliterate it as a name, 'Bath-rabbim'. The Septuagint and Vulgate translate it, 'gate(s) of the daughter of many / of the multitude', which keeps a sense of crowds that the transliteration hides.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Unattested elsewhere. Some suggest it was the Heshbon gate on the road to Rabbah (Rabbath-Ammon, modern Amman, about 20 km away). Jerusalem's 'Damascus Gate' is named on the same pattern. Others treat it as a poetic description of a crowded gate.
Where it appears
Song of Songs · 2
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Song of Songs 7:4 בַּת־ רַבִּ֔ים Bath-, Rabbim
Your neck is like a tower made of ivory; your eyes are like the pools of Heshbon by the gate of Bath-rabbim; your nose is like the tower of Lebanon, facing toward Damascus.
Here: First half of the gate's name, literally 'daughter of'. Hebrew uses 'daughter' for cities and their populations.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.