H2579 H2579
Hamath; major Syrian city-state north of Damascus
Hamath was one of the most important cities of ancient Syria, located on the Orontes River about 115 miles north of Damascus. It had its own king in David's time and remained significant through the 8th century BC. The city gave its name to a surrounding territory ('the land of Hamath') and had its own deities. In Amos 6:2, 'great Hamath' appears as a point of comparison for Israel's pride.
Senses
1. sense 1 — In Amos 6:2, the prophet challenges Israel to 'go to great Hamath' as part of his rhetorical comparison with neighboring powers. The reference appears twice because both 'Hamath' and the adjective 'great' (הגדולה) are listed. The multilingual evidence shows interesting variation: German 'vermehrte' (increased/multiplied) suggests a different parsing from 'great.' 2×
AR["الكَبيرَةَ", "حَماةَ"]·ben["মহান", "হমাতে"]·DE["[חמת]", "vermehrte"]·EN["Chamat", "the-great"]·FR["Hamath", "grande"]·heb["חמת", "רבה"]·HI["बड़ी", "हमात"]·ID["besar", "ke-Hamat"]·IT["[חמת]", "grande"]·jav["agung", "dhumateng-Hamat"]·KO["에-하맛", "큰"]·PT["Hamat", "grande"]·RU["в-Хамат", "великий"]·ES["a-Hamat", "la-grande"]·SW["Hamathi", "kubwa"]·TR["Hamat'a", "büyük"]·urd["بڑی", "حمات"]
Related Senses
H3605 1. all, every, whole (5352×)H0259 1. one (cardinal numeral) (940×)H8147 1. cardinal number two (666×)G3956 1. all (collective plural) (616×)H3967 1. cardinal numeral hundred (550×)H1419a 1. great, large (general quality) (486×)H7969 1. cardinal number three (431×)H0505 1. cardinal number thousand (427×)H7651 1. seven (cardinal number) (393×)G1520 1. cardinal number one (339×)H6240 1. ten (cardinal number) (334×)H6242 1. twenty (cardinal number) (315×)H2568 1. cardinal number five (309×)H0702 1. four (cardinal number) (277×)G3956 2. every, each (distributive) (227×)H8337 1. six (cardinal number) (215×)G3956 3. all things, everything (substantive) (211×)G3956 4. (187×)H6235 1. ten (177×)G3173 1. great in size or extent (176×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† חֲמָת, חֲמַת n.pr.loc. (√ dub.; Thes MV al. der. from חָמָה, חֲמָת = fortress, or (v. RSSem i, 140), sacred enclosure, temenos, ḥimā, cf. HalJAS 7 ème Sér. x, 392 LagBN 82, 156; but no certainty that name is Shemitic; Arabic حَمَاة, Assyrian Amattu, DlPA 275 ff. Pr 174);—mod. Ḥamâ, on el-ʿÂṣi (Orontes), 38 h. (c. 115 m.) N. of Damascus, v. BdPal. 398 f. It had a king, תֹּעִי, in David’s time 2…