Hebrew word · H2897

טוֹב

tov

Tob

A territory in northern Transjordan, outside Israelite control, bordering Aramean lands. It is usually placed around et-Taiyibeh, east or northeast of Gilead, though the location is not certain.

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

What it means

§ Tob = "good"

a region east of the Jordan, north or northeast of Gilead, probably Aramean, location uncertain

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 Judges 11:3

Range of meaning

A territory in northern Transjordan, outside Israelite control, bordering Aramean lands. It is usually placed around et-Taiyibeh, east or northeast of Gilead, though the location is not certain.

Against the English

All versions transliterate 'Tob'. None can show that the name is the everyday Hebrew word 'good'.

Used elsewhere in the period

2 Sam 10:6, 8: 'the men of Tob' (or 'Ish-Tob') are hired by the Ammonites against David, so the region supplied mercenaries. A place called Tubu may appear in Egyptian lists and the Amarna letters (identification debated). 1 Macc 5:13 mentions Jews living 'in the region of Tobias/Tob' in the second century BC.

Where it appears

Judges · 2

  1. Judges 11:3 ט֑וֹב Tob

    So Jephthah fled from his brothers and settled in the land of Tob, where worthless men gathered around him and traveled with him.

    Here: A region east or northeast of Gilead, on the edge of Aramean territory. Its men later hire themselves out to the Ammonites against David (2 Sam 10:6, 8). The name sounds exactly like the common word 'good' (tov). That may be a quiet irony, with 'empty' men gathering in the land of 'Good', but the text does not stress it.

  2. Judges 11:5 טֽוֹב׃ Tob

    and made war with them, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob.

2 Samuel · 2

  1. 2 Samuel 10:6 ט֔וֹב Tob

    When the Ammonites realized that they had become a stench to David, they hired twenty thousand Aramean foot soldiers from Beth-rehob and Zoba, as well as a thousand men from the king of Maacah and twelve thousand men from Tob.

    Here: A district east of the Jordan, probably north of Gilead. It was the place where the outcast Jephthah gathered a band of fighters (Judges 11:3–5), so it was known as a source of fighting men.

  2. 2 Samuel 10:8 ט֣וֹב Tob

    The Ammonites marched out and arrayed themselves for battle at the entrance of the city gate, while the Arameans of Zobah and Rehob and the men of Tob and Maacah were by themselves in the open country.

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