Hebrew word · H3959

לֶ֫שֶׁם

leshem

Leshem

A place name found only here, twice. The same city is called Laish (layiš, 'lion') in Judges 18:7, 14, 27, 29. Leshem is probably an alternate or older spelling. Elsewhere leshem is the name of a gemstone on the high priest's breastpiece (Exodus 28:19). Whether that is connected is unknown.

Appears 2 times in 1 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

Leshem = "precious stone"

a city west of Mount Hermon, also called 'Laish' and later 'Dan'

Another name of dan (דָּן "Dan" H1835G)

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 19:47

Range of meaning

A place name found only here, twice. The same city is called Laish (layiš, 'lion') in Judges 18:7, 14, 27, 29. Leshem is probably an alternate or older spelling. Elsewhere leshem is the name of a gemstone on the high priest's breastpiece (Exodus 28:19). Whether that is connected is unknown.

Against the English

Translations keep 'Leshem'. Some paraphrases quietly swap in 'Laish' from Judges. That harmonises the texts but hides a real difference between them.

Used elsewhere in the period

Laish appears in Egyptian Execration Texts (early 2nd millennium BC), in Thutmose III's list of conquered cities, and in the Mari archives. Excavations at Tel Dan (Tell el-Qadi) under A. Biran uncovered a large Middle Bronze Age city with a well-preserved mudbrick arched gate.

Similar words

Where it appears

Joshua · 2

  1. Joshua 19:47 לֶ֜שֶׁם לְלֶ֙שֶׁם֙ Leshem, <to> Leshem

    (Later, when the territory of the Danites was lost to them, they went up and fought against Leshem, captured it, and put it to the sword. So they took possession of Leshem, settled there, and renamed it after their father Dan.)

    Here: The city's earlier name. Judges 18 calls it Laish. It stood at the springs of the Jordan and is the modern Tel Dan.

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