Deuteronomy 2:11
in Deuteronomy 2Like the Anakites, they were also regarded as Rephaim, though the Moabites called them Emites.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
these also are accounted Rephaim, as the Anakim; but the Moabites call them Emim.
KJV
Which also were accounted giants, as the Anakims; but the Moabites call them Emims.
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This verse in Deuteronomy 2
Commentary
5 notes on this verseWhich also were accounted giants, as the Anakims,.... Because of their bulky size and tall stature; or,"the Rephaim were they accounted, even they as the Anakims;''they were reckoned Rephaim, a name for giants in early times, even as the Anakims were; see Gen 14:5. but the Moabites called them Emims; to distinguish them from the Rephaim; so that it seems this name of Emims was not originally their name, but they are called so by a prolepsis, or anticipation, in Gen 14:5 since they had it from the Moabites, a people of a later date.
This site's exposition
The Emims dwelt therein in times past
on Deuteronomy 2:10-11
The word rendered giants is Rephaim, which is a people name, and Clarke says so outright. Emims is what Moab called them, and the Anakims are the measure of size the passage keeps reaching for. That measure is the report of the spies at Numbers 13:33, which 1:28 has already quoted back at Israel as the fear that cost the last generation its land, so the excursus is answering something the reader has just heard.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
), righteous Lot, who kept his integrity in Sodom. Note, Children often fare the better in this world for the piety of their ancestors: the seed of the upright, though they degenerate, yet are blessed with temporal good things. Because the land they were possessed of was what God had given them, and he did not design it for Israel.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
If the providence of God had done this for the Moabites and Ammonites, much more would his promise do it for Israel his peculiar people. The advances which Israel made towards Canaan.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Which also were accounted giants - This is not a fortunate version. The word is not giants, but רפאים Rephaim, the name of a people. It appears that the Emim, the Anakim, and the Rephaim, were probably the same people, called by different names in the different countries where they dwelt; for they appear originally to have been a kind of wandering free-booters, who lived by plunder. (See on Deu 2:10 (note)). It must be granted, however, that there were several men of this race of extraordinary stature. And hence all gigantic men have been called Rephaim.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
יירשום — This is a present tense form of the verb; it is as much as to say, I gave them power that they might go on driving them out continuously.
2 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
THE EMIM ABODE THEREIN FORMERLY etc. “You [Moses] might think that this is the land of the Rephaim which I gave to Abraham. Genesis:20.
The Eimim originally lived there—a people great and numerous and powerful like the Anokim [ giants ].
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
9 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| רְפָאִ֛ים | refaim | Rephaites | H7497 → | 25 times |
| יֵחָשְׁב֥וּ | yechashevu | they were regarded | H2803 → | |
| אַף־ | ʾaf- | also | H637 → | 134 times |
| הֵ֖ם | hem | they | H1992 → | 553 times |
| כָּעֲנָקִ֑ים | kaanakim | like the Anakites | H6062 → | 9 times |
| וְהַמֹּ֣אָבִ֔ים | vehamoavim | and the Moabites | H4125 → | 16 times |
| יִקְרְא֥וּ | yikreu | they called | H7121 → | 733 times |
| לָהֶ֖ם | lahem | <to> them | ||
| אֵמִֽים׃ | ʾemim | Emites | H368 → |
רְפָאִ֛יםRephaites
refaimH7497 →25 times
יֵחָשְׁב֥וּthey were regarded
yechashevuH2803 →
אַף־also
ʾaf-H637 →134 times
הֵ֖םthey
hemH1992 →553 times
כָּעֲנָקִ֑יםlike the Anakites
kaanakimH6062 →9 times
וְהַמֹּ֣אָבִ֔יםand the Moabites
vehamoavimH4125 →16 times
יִקְרְא֥וּthey called
yikreuH7121 →733 times
לָהֶ֖ם<to> them
lahem
אֵמִֽים׃Emites
ʾemimH368 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Numbers 13:33We even saw the Nephilim there—the descendants of Anak that come from the Nephilim! We seemed like grasshoppers in our own sight, and we must have seemed the same to them!”
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 1:28
Where can we go? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying: ‘The people are larger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the heavens. We even saw…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Genesis 6:4
The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and afterward as well—when the sons of God had relations with the daughters of men. And they bore them children who became the mighty men of…
- Isaiah 40:22
He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth; its dwellers are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.
- 1 Samuel 17:42
When the Philistine looked and saw David, he despised him because he was just a boy, ruddy and handsome.
- Deuteronomy 9:2
The people are strong and tall, the descendants of the Anakim. You know about them, and you have heard it said, “Who can stand up to the sons of Anak?”
- Deuteronomy 1:28
Through
Numbers 13:28Nevertheless, the people living in the land are strong, and the cities are large and fortified. We even saw the descendants of Anak there.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 9:1–2
Hear, O Israel: Today you are about to cross the Jordan to go in and dispossess nations greater and stronger than you, with large cities fortified to the heavens.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Numbers 13:33
We even saw the Nephilim there—the descendants of Anak that come from the Nephilim! We seemed like grasshoppers in our own sight, and we must have seemed the same to them!”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Joshua 11:22
No Anakim were left in the land of the Israelites; only in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod did any survive.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Deuteronomy 9:1–2
About Deuteronomy
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.