People from Repha(?)
The Rephaim, also known as Zamzummin, were a race of giants who inhabited parts of Canaan before the Israelite conquest.
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Also known as Rephaites · giants · Zamzummin · Zamzummim · Zamzummites
The Rephaim, also referred to as Zamzummin by the Ammonites (Deu.2.20), were a race of giants who inhabited parts of Canaan before the Israelite conquest. They are first mentioned in Gen.14.5, where they were defeated by Chedorlaomer and his allies in Ashteroth-karnaim. The Rephaim were one of the groups that inhabited the land promised to Abraham's descendants (Gen.15.20). They were known for their great stature and strength, and their land was characterized by large, fortified cities (Deu.3.11, 13). The Rephaim were gradually dispossessed of their land by the Israelites during the conquest of Canaan. The Ammonites drove them out of the territory east of the Jordan River (Deu.2.20-21), while the Israelites, under Joshua's leadership, defeated Og, the king of Bashan, who was described as the last of the Rephaim (Jos.12.4; 13.12). Despite their formidable reputation, the Israelites were able to overcome the Rephaim with God's help and claim their inheritance in the Promised Land (Jos.17.15).
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Lofty men; giants, (Gen. 14:5; 2 Sam. 21:16, 18, marg. A.V., Rapha, marg. R.V., Raphah; Deut. 3:13, R.V.; A.V., “giants”). The aborigines of Palestine, afterwards conquered and dispossessed by the Canaanite tribes, are classed under this general title. They were known to the Moabites as Emim, i.e., “fearful”, (Deut. 2:11), and to the Ammonites as Zamzummim. Some of them found refuge among the Philistines, and were still existing in the days of David. We know nothing of their origin. They were not necessarily connected with the “giants” (R.V., “Nephilim”) of Gen. 6:4. (See GIANTS.)
REPH'AIM (giants), the name of a race of giants who lived east of the Jordan. Chedorlaomer defeated them. Gen 14:5. Their land was promised to Abraham's seed. Gen 15:20. At some time before Israel's coming they were driven out of their possessions. Deut 2:10 (Heb.), and lived in the West of Palestine, where they had possessions. Josh 15:8. See below.
REPH'AIM, VAL'LEY OF. It is first mentioned in Josh 15:8; Josh 18:16, and there translated "the valley of the giants." It was one of the landmarks of the land of Judah; named after the Rephaim, or "giants," who at an early period were found on both sides of the Jordan. Comp. Gen 14:5; Deut 3:11-13; Josh 13:12; Lev 17:15. David twice defeated the Philistines in this valley. 2 Sam 5:17-25; 2 Sam 23:13; 1 Chr 11:15-16; 1 Chr 14:9-16. The valley was noted for its fertility. Isa 17:5. Its position as a boundary of Judah would indicate it to have been south of the valley of Hinnom. On the road to Bethlehem there is a cultivated plain about a mile long, bordered on both sides by hills, and gradually sloping into a deep valley at the south-west, called Wadi el-Werd, or "the valley of roses." This plain is called Beka'a by the Arabs, and since the sixteenth century an attempt has been made to identify it with the valley of Rephaim. Tobler proposed to identify Rephaim with the Wady der Yasin, to the west-north-west of Jerusalem, but this would contradict the account of Josephus, and the other location is quite generally accepted.
Easton (1897), Smith (1863), Hitchcock (1869), Hastings (1898) and Schaff are in the public domain. Parsed text: neuu-org/bible-dictionary-dataset (CC BY 4.0). Headwords and whitespace normalised for this site.
9 verses in 3 books · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s H7497
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,
Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites,
Like the Anakites, they were also regarded as Rephaim, though the Moabites called them Emites.
(That too was regarded as the land of the Rephaim, who used to live there, though the Ammonites called them Zamzummites.
(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.)
To the half-tribe of Manasseh I gave the rest of Gilead and all of Bashan, the kingdom of Og. (The entire region of Argob, the whole territory of Bashan, used to be called the land of the Rephaim.)
And Og king of Bashan, one of the remnant of the Rephaim, who lived in Ashtaroth and Edrei.
the whole kingdom of Og in Bashan, who had reigned in Ashtaroth and Edrei and had remained as a remnant of the Rephaim. Moses had struck them down and dispossessed them,
Joshua answered them, “If you have so many people that the hill country of Ephraim is too small for you, go to the forest and clear for yourself an area in the land of the Perizzites and the Rephaim.”
Names, family links and references: STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Short descriptions were drafted with AI assistance by STEPBible. Family links follow STEPBible’s scholarly decisions where genealogies are ambiguous.