Hebrew word · H658

אֶ֫פֶס דַּמִּים

damim

Ephes-dammim

A place name found only here. Its parts are ordinary words: ʾepes, 'end, extremity, boundary', also 'nothing, ceasing', and dammîm, plural of dām 'blood', regularly meaning 'bloodshed' or 'blood-guilt'.

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

What it means

Ephes Dammim = "edge of blood"

a place approx 16 miles (25 km) southwest of Jerusalem

Also named: pas dam.mim (פַּס דַּמִּים "Pas-dammim" H6450)

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 1 Samuel 17:1

Range of meaning

A place name found only here. Its parts are ordinary words: ʾepes, 'end, extremity, boundary', also 'nothing, ceasing', and dammîm, plural of dām 'blood', regularly meaning 'bloodshed' or 'blood-guilt'. 1 Chr 11:13 has the shorter form Pas-dammîm for a Philistine battle site where David and Eleazar fought.

Against the English

All major versions transliterate the name ('Ephes-dammim', 'Ephes Dammim'). None translate it, which is right for a place name, but the sound of the name is lost to English readers.

Used elsewhere in the period

1 Chr 11:13 (Pas-dammim), and probably the same battle as 2 Sam 23:9, where the Hebrew text is damaged. The Septuagint gives a garbled form, probably based on a different reading or copying error. The exact site is unknown; it lay somewhere on the ridge between Socoh and Azekah.

Where it appears

1 Samuel · 2

  1. 1 Samuel 17:1 בְּאֶ֥פֶס דַּמִּֽים׃ in Ephes, Dammim

    Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war at Socoh in Judah, and they camped between Socoh and Azekah in Ephes-dammim.

    Here: 'In Ephes...': the first element of a place name. As an ordinary word ʾepes means 'end, edge, limit' or 'ceasing'.

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