Hebrew word · H4610

עַקְרַבִּים

'akrabim

Akrabbim

Maʿaleh means 'ascent': a climbing road, a pass up an escarpment (a steep cliff face). ʿAqrabbîm is the plural of ʿaqrāb, 'scorpion'. The name means 'Scorpion Ascent' or 'Scorpion Pass'.

Appears 4 times in 3 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

§ Maaleh-acrabbim = "ascent of scorpions"

a pass on the southern border of Palestine

scorpion-pass; ascent of Akrabbim

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 Numbers 34:4

Range of meaning

Maʿaleh means 'ascent': a climbing road, a pass up an escarpment (a steep cliff face). ʿAqrabbîm is the plural of ʿaqrāb, 'scorpion'. The name means 'Scorpion Ascent' or 'Scorpion Pass'.

Against the English

KJV, BSB, WEB and YLT leave the name in Hebrew ('Akrabbim'). The NIV and NLT translate it as 'Scorpion Pass', so readers hear what the first audience heard.

Used elsewhere in the period

It also appears in Joshua 15:3 and Judges 1:36 (the Amorite border). The Septuagint renders 'the ascent of Akrabin'. 1 Maccabees 5:3 mentions an 'Akrabattene' near Idumea, which may be connected. Scholars usually place the pass on the climb from the Arabah toward the central Negev southwest of the Dead Sea; the modern 'Ma'ale Aqrabbim' road preserves the name, though the exact ancient route is debated.

Where it appears

Numbers · 2

  1. Numbers 34:4 לְמַעֲלֵ֤ה עַקְרַבִּים֙ to [the] ascent of, scorpions

    cross south of the Ascent of Akrabbim, continue to Zin, and go south of Kadesh-barnea. Then it will go on to Hazar-addar and proceed to Azmon,

    Here: 'Of the ascent of' (governed by the preceding 'from the south'). A maʿaleh is a road that climbs: here a pass from the low Arabah valley up onto the Negev highlands. The supplied data files it under the compound place name (H4610).

Joshua · 1

  1. Joshua 15:3 עַקְרַבִּים֙ scorpions

    proceeded south of the Ascent of Akrabbim, continued on to Zin, went over to the south of Kadesh-barnea, ran past Hezron up to Addar, and curved toward Karka.

Judges · 1

  1. Judges 1:36 עַקְרַבִּ֑ים scorpions

    And the border of the Amorites extended from the Ascent of Akrabbim to Sela and beyond.

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