Hebrew word · H1575

גַּמָּדִים

vegamadim

Gamad

Found only here. It is a plural noun for a group of men stationed in Tyre's towers. Its meaning is unknown.

Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

Gamaddim

This name means brave men, warriors

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 Ezekiel 27:11

Range of meaning

Found only here. It is a plural noun for a group of men stationed in Tyre's towers. Its meaning is unknown.

Against the English

KJV transliterates it ('the Gammadims'). BSB, ESV and NLT have 'men of Gammad/Gamad'. WEB has 'valiant men' and YLT 'short swordsmen'. These are three quite different guesses.

How it drifted

The English variety comes from the ancient versions. The Vulgate's 'Pygmaei' connects the word to גֹּמֶד (gomed), a cubit-length measure (Judges 3:16, Ehud's sword), giving 'cubit-high men', i.e. pygmies. YLT's 'short swordsmen' comes from the same link to gomed as a short sword. The LXX has 'guards', and the Targum has 'Cappadocians'.

Used elsewhere in the period

Modern scholars generally take it as a people named after a place, matching 'sons of Arvad'. Kumidi, a Late Bronze Age town in the Lebanese Beqaa known from the Amarna letters, is often suggested. Other proposals have been made, and none is certain (see HALOT; Zimmerli; Block).

Where it appears

Ezekiel · 1

  1. Ezekiel 27:11 וְגַ֨מָּדִ֔ים and [the] Gammadites

    Men of Arvad and Helech manned your walls all around, and the men of Gammad were in your towers. They hung their shields around your walls; they perfected your beauty.

    Here: A group of men stationed in the towers. Nobody knows for certain who they were. Most likely they are named after a place (possibly Kumidi in Lebanon's Beqaa valley), parallel to 'sons of Arvad'. Ancient translators guessed 'guards', 'pygmies' or 'Cappadocians'.

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