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Meaning, origin and etymology of the name Zeboiim


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Zeboiim Zeboiim

Zeboiim is a city that went down with Admah, Sodom and Gomorrah (not to be confused with Zeboim as mentioned in 1 Sam 13:18).

The names Zeboiim and Zeboim are old enough to have nothing to do with the Hebrew of the Biblical texts that we have. NOBSE taps into the Arabic equivalent (which means Hyena) and reads Hyenas for both Zeboim and Zeboiim. But the only times that hyenas may be mentioned in the Bible (Isa 13:22, 34:14 and Jer 50:39) the word is i ('i 43a), from the root wh ('wh 43), which means howl. To a Hebrew audience, the name Zeboiim would not have meant Hyena.

According to Jones this name is a plural of the verb saba (saba 1865) meaning to fight, serve; or similar noun saba (saba 1865a) meaning war, army. Jones reads Gathering Of Troops Of Soldiers, i.e. a military city.

But what also, or even more so, rings a bell are the words sebi (sebi 1869a) beauty, and sebi (sebi 1870a), gazelle. Both words are derivations of identical and assumed roots saba which are identical to the verb saba (saba 1868), swell, swell up, and noun saba (sabeh 1868a), swelling.

To a Hebrew audience, the name Zeboiim probably would have meant either Gazelles, Beautiful Ones, or Bumps.



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