Hebrew word · H6255

עַשְׁתְּרֹת קַרְנַיִם

karnayim

Ashteroth-karnaim

'Ashteroth' is the plural of Ashtoreth, the Hebrew form of the goddess Astarte. It is also used as a city name. 'Karnaim' means 'two horns'.

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

What it means

Ashtoreth-karnaim = "Ashtoreth of the two horns or peaks"

a city in Bashan east of the Jordan given to Manasseh

Also named: qar.na.im (קַרְנַ֫יִם "Karnaim" H7161B)

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

'Ashteroth' is the plural of Ashtoreth, the Hebrew form of the goddess Astarte. It is also used as a city name. 'Karnaim' means 'two horns'. The combination is read either as 'Astarte of the two horns' (a horned goddess, or a city with a twin-peaked mound) or as a double name joining Ashtaroth (Tell Ashtara) with nearby Karnaim (Sheikh Saʿd).

Against the English

Every English version carries the name over unchanged. Readers do not hear the goddess name or the 'horns' in it.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ashtaroth appears as Ashtartu in the Amarna letters (14th century BC) and in Egyptian lists of conquered towns. It was Og's capital (Deut 1:4; Josh 12:4). Karnaim is mentioned in Amos 6:13, and as Carnaim with a temple in 1 Macc 5:43–44 and 2 Macc 12:21, 26.

Where it appears

Genesis · 2

  1. Genesis 14:5 בְּעַשְׁתְּרֹ֣ת קַרְנַ֔יִם in Ashteroth, Karnaim

    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: 'In Ashteroth', a city name formed from the goddess Astarte. Ashtaroth was a major city of Bashan, later the seat of Og, who was 'of the remnant of the Rephaim' (Josh 12:4).

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