Hebrew word · H5905

עִיר שָׁ֑מֶשׁ

shamesh

Ir-shemesh

'City of the Sun.' The word shemesh means 'sun' and is also the name of the Canaanite/Semitic sun deity (Ugaritic Shapash, Akkadian Shamash).

Appears 2 times in 1 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. · Updated October 30, 2026

What it means

Ir-shemesh = "city of the sun-god"

a city in Dan; probably the same as 'Beth-shemesh'

Another spelling of bet she.mesh (בֵּית שֶׁ֫מֶשׁ "Beth-shemesh" H1053)

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

Range of meaning: 'City of the Sun.' The word shemesh means 'sun' and is also the name of the Canaanite/Semitic sun deity (Ugaritic Shapash, Akkadian Shamash).
Against the English: Transliterated as 'Ir-shemesh' in all English versions. Readers miss that the name meant 'Sun-city' and probably preserved a pre-Israelite sun cult.
Used elsewhere in the period: Usually identified with Beth-shemesh ('House/Temple of the Sun': Josh 15:10; 21:16; 1 Sam 6; 1 Kgs 4:9), and often with Har-heres ('Mount of the Sun', Judg 1:35), which is named with Aijalon and Shaalbim, the same towns that follow in v. 42.

Joshua · 2

Joshua 19:41 וְעִ֥יר שָֽׁמֶשׁ׃ and Ir-, Shemesh

The territory of their inheritance included Zorah, Eshtaol, Ir-shemesh,

Here: 'And City-of…', the first half of a two-word place name. 'Ir' is the common word for a settlement, usually a walled one.

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