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Deuteronomy 2:20

in Deuteronomy 2

(That too was regarded as the land of the Rephaim, who used to live there, though the Ammonites called them Zamzummites.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

(That also is accounted a land of Rephaim: Rephaim dwelt therein aforetime; but the Ammonites call them Zamzummim,

KJV

(That also was accounted a land of giants: giants dwelt therein in old time; and the Ammonites call them Zamzummims;

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This verse in Deuteronomy 2

Commentary

6 notes on this verse
That also was accounted a land of giants,.... Ammon was so reckoned as well as Moab, Deu 2:10. giants dwelt therein in old time; the Rephaim dwelt there, as they did also in Ashteroth Karnaim, Gen 14:5. and the Ammonites call them Zamzummims; they are thought to be the same with the Zuzims in Gen 14:5 who had their name, as Hillerus (c) thinks, from Mezuzah, a door post, from their tall stature, being as high as one; and for a like reason Saph the giant might have his name, 2Sa 21:

This site's exposition

That too was regarded as the land of the Rephaim

on Deuteronomy 2:20-23

The aside widens past Israel's kin: "the LORD destroyed" the Zamzummites before Ammon in the words used of Israel's wars. So the hand that grants a land takes it from another people.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

), probably the same that are called Zuzim, Gen. xiv. He illustrates these remarks by an instance older than any of these; the Caphtorim (who were akin to the Philistines, Gen. x.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

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 Century2 voices

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

That also was accounted a land of giants - That was accounted the land or territory of the Rephaim. Zamzummims - Supposed to be the same as the Zuzim, Gen 14:5. Of these ancient people we know very little; they were probably inconsiderable tribes or clans, “pursuing and pursued, each other’s prey,” till at length a stronger totally destroyed or subdued them, and their name became either extinct or absorbed in that of their conquerors.
These verses, like Deu 2:10-12, are in all likelihood an addition made by a later reviser. Deu 2:20 Zamzummims - A giant race usually identified with the Zuzims of Gen 14:5. Deu 2:23 The Avims which dwelt in Hazerim, even unto Azzah - Read (Gaza, of which Azzah is the Hebrew form. “Hazerim” is not strictly a proper name, but means “villages,” or “enclosures,” probably such as are still common in the East. The Avims are no doubt identical with the Avites of Jos 13:3, and were doubtless a scattered remnant of a people conquered by the Caphtorim (Gen 10:14 note) and living in their “enclosures” in the neighborhood of Gerar. The word, which means “ruins,” seems itself expressive of their fallen state.

The words behind it

13 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • אֶֽרֶץ־[the] land of

    ʾeretz-H776 →2504 times

  • רְפָאִ֥ים[the] Rephaites

    refaimH7497 →25 times

  • תֵּחָשֵׁ֖בit was regarded

    techashevH2803 →

  • אַף־also

    ʾaf-H637 →134 times

  • הִ֑ואit

    hi'H1931 →1879 times

  • רְפָאִ֤ים[the] Rephaites

    refaimH7497 →25 times

  • יָֽשְׁבוּ־they dwelt

    yashevu-H3427 →1079 times

  • בָהּ֙in it

    vah

  • לְפָנִ֔ים<to> before

    lefanimH6440 →2123 times

  • וְהָֽעַמֹּנִ֔יםand the Ammonites

    vehaamonimH5984 →

  • יִקְרְא֥וּthey called

    yikreuH7121 →733 times

  • לָהֶ֖ם<to> them

    lahem

  • זַמְזֻמִּֽים׃Zamzummites

    zamzumimH2157 →

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

2 in all, six open

The walk

5 stops

Each 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

    Genesis 14:5

    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,

    it leads to

    • Deuteronomy 3:11

      (For only Og king of Bashan had remained of the remnant of the Rephaim. His bed of iron, nine cubits long and four cubits wide, is still in Rabbah of the Ammonites.)

    • Genesis 15:20

      Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites,

    • Deuteronomy 2:10–11

      (The Emites used to live there, a people great and many, as tall as the Anakites.

    • Deuteronomy 1:4

      This was after he had defeated Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and then at Edrei had defeated Og king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth.

    • Deuteronomy 3:22

      Do not be afraid of them, for the LORD your God Himself will fight for you.”

Where this verse is studied

About Deuteronomy

Moses Viewing the Promised Land, Frederic Edwin Church, 1846. Public domain.
Moses Viewing the Promised Land, Frederic Edwin Church, 1846. Public domain.
Deuteronomy: the study guide →Read Deuteronomy 2 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Deuteronomy 2 →