Deuteronomy 2:11

11 They were also regarded as Rephaim,^[a] like the Anakim, though the Moabites called them Emim.^[b]

Deuteronomy 2:11 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 2:11

Which 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 ( Genesis 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 ( Genesis 14:5 ) since they had it from the Moabites, a people of a later date.

Deuteronomy 2:11 In-Context

9 The Lord said to me, 'Show no hostility toward Moab, and do not provoke them to battle, for I will not give you any of their land as a possession, since I have given Ar as a possession to the descendants of Lot.' "

10 The Emim, a great and numerous people as tall as the Anakim, had previously lived there.

11 They were also regarded as Rephaim, like the Anakim, though the Moabites called them Emim.

12 The Horites had previously lived in Seir, but the descendants of Esau drove them out, destroying them completely and settling in their place, just as Israel did in the land of its possession the Lord gave them.

13 "[The Lord said,] 'Now get up and cross the Zered Valley.' So we crossed the Zered Valley.

Footnotes

• [a]. Gn 14:5; 15:20; Jos 13:13; 2 Sm 21:15-22
• [b]. Gn 14:5