Hebrew word · H6787

צְמָרַיִם

tzemarayim

(Mount )Zemaraim

A proper name with a dual ending (-ayim, the Hebrew form for pairs). Its root meaning is unclear. Suggestions include a link to tsemer, 'wool', or a description of two summits. Lexicons such as HALOT and BDB do not commit to an etymology.

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

What it means

§ Zemaraim = "double fleece of wool"

a hill in Ephraim

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 Joshua 18:22

Range of meaning

A proper name with a dual ending (-ayim, the Hebrew form for pairs). Its root meaning is unclear. Suggestions include a link to tsemer, 'wool', or a description of two summits. Lexicons such as HALOT and BDB do not commit to an etymology.

Against the English

Every major English version gives 'Zemaraim'. There is no real translation problem. The name is simply opaque.

Used elsewhere in the period

2 Chronicles 13:4 records that King Abijah of Judah stood on 'Mount Zemaraim, which is in the hill country of Ephraim' and made a speech to Jeroboam's army. Proposed sites lie in the hills northeast of Bethel (e.g. Ras ez-Zeimara), but none is secure. Do not confuse it with the 'Zemarites' of Genesis 10:18, a group on the Phoenician coast.

Where it appears

Joshua · 1

  1. Joshua 18:22 וּצְמָרַ֖יִם and Zemaraim

    Beth-arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel,

    Here: A town name with the Hebrew dual ending -ayim (the form used for pairs), perhaps pointing to two features such as twin hills. Its meaning and exact location are uncertain. 2 Chronicles 13:4 mentions a 'Mount Zemaraim' in the hill country of Ephraim.

2 Chronicles · 1

  1. 2 Chronicles 13:4 צְמָרַ֔יִם Zemaraim

    Then Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim in the hill country of Ephraim and said, “Hear me, O Jeroboam and all Israel!

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