גְּרִזִים

From the study of Judges 9:7

Range of meaning

A proper name, the mountain on the south side of the Shechem pass, facing Mount Ebal to the north. Its summit is about 880 m (2,890 ft) above sea level, several hundred metres above the city at Tell Balata.

Against the English

English simply transliterates it, which is correct. What English readers miss is what the name already meant to Israelite hearers.

Used elsewhere in the period

Deut 11:29 and 27:12 assign the blessing to Gerizim and the curse to Ebal in the covenant ceremony at Shechem. Josh 8:33–34 narrates that ceremony. Josh 24 places a covenant renewal and a memorial stone "under the oak" at Shechem, almost certainly the same "oak of the pillar" where Abimelech is crowned (Judg 9:6). Josephus (Antiquities 5.7.2) says Gerizim "hangs over" Shechem and adds that the citizens were gathered for a festival when Jotham called out.

From the study of Deuteronomy 11:29

Range of meaning

Proper names of the two mountains above Shechem. What the names originally meant is uncertain. Gerizim has been linked to a root meaning 'to cut off' and Ebal to a word for 'bare', but neither link is secure.

Against the English

All versions simply transliterate the names, so English obscures nothing here. What modern readers miss is the geography: the two peaks face each other across a narrow pass.

Used elsewhere in the period

Gerizim is about 880 m above sea level and Ebal about 940 m. Between them lies the pass where Shechem (Tell Balata, by modern Nablus) stood, the crossroads of the central hill country. Deuteronomy 27:11–13 places six tribes on each mountain. Joshua 8:30–35 records an altar on Ebal and a reading of the law. Judges 9:7 has Jotham speaking from the top of Gerizim to the people of Shechem below. Later the Samaritans held Gerizim as the chosen place of worship and built a temple there (Josephus, Antiquities 11 and 13; John 4:20).

From the study of Deuteronomy 27:12

Range of meaning

A proper name for the mountain south of the Shechem pass (about 880 m), facing Mount Ebal (about 940 m) to the north. The meaning of the name is uncertain. It's often linked to a root meaning “cut off,” so possibly “mountain of the cut-off (ones)” or “of the rocky clefts.” No derivation is secure.

Against the English

English just transliterates it (Gerizim; YLT Gerizzim; LXX Garizin). Nothing is lost in translation, but the name's later history is invisible to modern readers.

Used elsewhere in the period

Deut 11:29; Josh 8:33; Judg 9:7 (Jotham shouts his fable from the top of Gerizim). Josephus, Antiquities 4.305–308, retells this ceremony and puts Gerizim on the right and Ebal on the left. The Samaritans built a temple on Gerizim, excavated at the site and destroyed by the Hasmonean John Hyrcanus in the late 2nd century BC (Josephus, Ant. 13.254–256). John 4:20: “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain.”