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NP-9214Folder 02Biblical Files

Emim, Anakim, Rephaim, Zamzummim

Deuteronomy 2:10-11, 2:20-21

A parenthetical geography lesson naming several peoples remembered as tall, and equating them with the Rephaim.

SCRIPTURE

Primary text

Deuteronomy 2:10-11 notes that the Emim previously lived in Moab — 'a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakim; which also were accounted giants (Rephaim), as the Anakim; but the Moabites call them Emim.' Verses 20-21 do the same for the Zamzummim in Ammonite territory.

Documented detail

These are ethnic and regional names, given by neighbouring peoples for populations remembered as unusually large. The word Nephilim does not appear in these verses.

Careful distinction

Reading Rephaim as a synonym for Nephilim is an interpretive step, not a textual statement. Rephaim also appears elsewhere as a term for the dead or shades — a second meaning that complicates any simple equation.

Pinned connections