Hebrew word · H5249
נִמְרִים
nimrim
Nimrim
A place name found only in the phrase "the waters of Nimrim" (Isaiah 15:6; Jeremiah 48:34). It is a plural form. It may come from nāmēr, "leopard" (giving "leopards' waters"). Or it may relate to an Arabic word for clear, wholesome water (giving "clear waters").
Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
§ Nimrim = "limpid" or "pure"
a stream or brook in the territory 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
- Range of meaning
A place name found only in the phrase "the waters of Nimrim" (Isaiah 15:6; Jeremiah 48:34). It is a plural form. It may come from nāmēr, "leopard" (giving "leopards' waters"). Or it may relate to an Arabic word for clear, wholesome water (giving "clear waters").
- Against the English
Every English version simply transliterates it, so whatever the name connoted is lost. That is unavoidable, and the loss is small.
- Used elsewhere in the period
The same clause appears again in Jeremiah 48:34, inside Jeremiah's long reuse of Isaiah's Moab oracle. A northern Beth-nimrah ("house of the leopard" or "house of clear water") is listed among the towns of Gad (Numbers 32:36; Joshua 13:27) and is usually placed at Tell Nimrin near the Jordan, opposite Jericho. Many scholars instead connect Isaiah's Nimrim with Wadi en-Numeira, south of the Dead Sea, because the Arabic name sounds similar.
Where it appears
Isaiah · 1
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Isaiah 15:6 נִמְרִ֖ים Nimrim
The waters of Nimrim are dried up, and the grass is withered; the vegetation is gone, and the greenery is no more.
Here: A watered place in Moab, probably the Wadi en-Numeira that runs into the southeastern Dead Sea near Zoar. The name may mean "leopards" or "clear waters". A well-known oasis is named so that hearers can picture its loss.
Jeremiah · 1
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Jeremiah 48:34 נִמְרִ֔ים Nimrim
There is a cry from Heshbon to Elealeh; they raise their voices to Jahaz, from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah; for even the waters of Nimrim have dried up.
Here: A stream or oasis. The name means 'leopards'. It is probably the Wadi en-Numeira near the southeastern Dead Sea, though some place it north at Beth-nimrah. Its water was evidently famous and dependable.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.