Hebrew word · H368

אֵימִים

ha'emim

Emim

Found only in Gen 14:5 and Deut 2:10–11. It is the Moabite name for the earlier population of Moab, 'a people great, many and tall like the Anakim', who were also 'counted as Rephaim'. The name is usually connected with ʾêmâ, 'terror, dread', so 'the dreadful ones'.

Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

People descended from Em(?), first mentioned at Gen.14.5

§ Emims = "terrors"

ancient inhabitants of Moab

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 Genesis 14:5

Range of meaning

Found only in Gen 14:5 and Deut 2:10–11. It is the Moabite name for the earlier population of Moab, 'a people great, many and tall like the Anakim', who were also 'counted as Rephaim'. The name is usually connected with ʾêmâ, 'terror, dread', so 'the dreadful ones'. It is probably a name other people gave them, not one they used themselves.

Against the English

BSB/NIV 'Emites'; KJV 'Emims' (double plural); ESV/NASB/WEB 'Emim'. English readers lose the sense that the name itself says 'frightening ones'.

Used elsewhere in the period

Deut 2:10–11 explicitly gives this as Moabite usage. The Genesis Apocryphon (1QapGen 21) retells the verse, placing the Emim in 'Shaveh of the Towns', which keeps the Moabite setting.

Where it appears

Genesis · 1

  1. Genesis 14:5 הָֽאֵימִ֔ים the Emites

    In the fourteenth year, Chedorlaomer and the kings allied with him went out and defeated the Rephaites in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzites in Ham, the Emites in Shaveh-kiriathaim,

    Here: According to Deuteronomy 2:10–11, this is the Moabite name for the earlier, tall population of Moab, also counted among the Rephaim. The name probably means 'the dreaded ones'.

Deuteronomy · 2

  1. Deuteronomy 2:10 הָאֵמִ֥ים the Emites

    (The Emites used to live there, a people great and many, as tall as the Anakites.

  2. Deuteronomy 2:11 אֵמִֽים׃ Emites

    Like the Anakites, they were also regarded as Rephaim, though the Moabites called them Emites.

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