Hebrew word · H2985

יָבִין

yavin

Jabin

A personal name. It is most naturally read as a verb form of bin, 'to discern, understand': 'He perceives', probably short for a name like '[the god] perceives'. Names built this way were common among Amorite-speaking peoples of the second millennium BC.

Appears 8 times in 7 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

A man living before Israel's Monarchy, first mentioned at Jdg.4.2

§ Jabin = "whom God observes"

1) a king of Hazor who organised a confederacy of the northern princes against Joshua; confederacy routed by the waters of Merom

2) another king of Hazor whose general, Sisera, was defeated by Barak

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 Joshua 11:1

Range of meaning

A personal name. It is most naturally read as a verb form of bin, 'to discern, understand': 'He perceives', probably short for a name like '[the god] perceives'. Names built this way were common among Amorite-speaking peoples of the second millennium BC.

Against the English

English simply transliterates it as 'Jabin'. The sound and possible meaning of the name are invisible to English readers, though nothing in the verse turns on the meaning.

Used elsewhere in the period

Judges 4:2 and Psalm 83:9 name a 'Jabin king of Canaan who reigned in Hazor' in the time of Deborah. The Mari texts name a king of Hazor called Ibni-Addu. Many scholars think the element 'Ibni' is the same root as 'Yabin', which would suggest that a name of this type ran in Hazor's royal family for centuries. That link is plausible but not proven.

From the study of Psalm 83:9

Range of meaning

A personal name, probably meaning 'he understands/discerns' (from the root bîn). It is borne by a king of Hazor in Joshua 11:1 and in Judges 4:2. It may have been a dynastic or throne name: the Mari letters (18th century BC) mention a king of Hazor named Ibni-Addu, which some scholars connect with this name.

Against the English

No translation problem.

Used elsewhere in the period

Joshua 11:1–11; Judges 4:2, 7, 17, 23–24. Hazor was the largest Canaanite city in the land, and excavations there confirm its size and importance.

Where it appears

Joshua · 1

  1. Joshua 11:1 יָבִ֣ין Jabin

    Now when Jabin king of Hazor heard about these things, he sent word to Jobab king of Madon; to the kings of Shimron and Achshaph;

    Here: The king of Hazor's name, which most likely means 'He (God) perceives/understands', from the verb bin, 'discern'. The same name comes back for a king of Hazor in Judges 4, which suggests it may have been a royal or family name used over generations.

Judges · 6

  1. Judges 4:2 יָבִ֣ין Jabin

    So the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his forces was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim.

    Here: A Semitic name that probably means '(God) discerns' or 'he understands'. It is the same name as the king of Hazor whom Joshua defeated (Josh 11:1–10). That raises the question of a dynasty name or a merged tradition (see debates).

  2. Judges 4:7 יָבִ֔ין Jabin

    And I will draw out Sisera the commander of Jabin’s army, his chariots, and his troops to the River Kishon, and I will deliver him into your hand.’”

    Here: The Canaanite king reigning in Hazor (v. 2). Sisera serves him, but the story treats Sisera as the real threat.

  3. Judges 4:17 יָבִ֣ין Jabin

    Meanwhile, Sisera had fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.

    Here: The Canaanite king oppressing Israel (v.2–3). Sisera is his general, so the alliance is Sisera's own side's alliance.

  4. Judges 4:23 יָבִ֣ין Jabin

    On that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan before the Israelites.

  5. Judges 4:24 יָבִ֣ין יָבִ֥ין Jabin

    And the hand of the Israelites grew stronger and stronger against Jabin king of Canaan until they destroyed him.

Psalms · 1

  1. Psalm 83:9 כְ֝יָבִ֗ין like Jabin

    Do to them as You did to Midian, as to Sisera and Jabin at the River Kishon,

    Here: 'Like Jabin': the Canaanite king 'who reigned in Hazor' and was Sisera's overlord (Judges 4:2). Judges says Israel subdued him gradually after the Kishon battle (4:23–24). The psalm puts king and general together as one defeated enemy.

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