BIBLE DICTIONARY + WORD STUDY
How to read this: there is rarely one magic “true meaning” hidden behind an English word. A lexicon records a word’s semantic range. The intended meaning is narrowed by grammar, sentence, author, historical usage and context.
HEBREW / ARAMAIC · H930
be.he.mot — Behemoth
Behemoth This name means perhaps an extinct dinosaur 1a) a Diplodocus or Brachiosaurus, exact meaning unknown 1b) hippopotamus 1c) a mythical or proverbial creature
1 tagged verse occurrence · see every occurrence →HEBREW / ARAMAIC · H202
on — strength
1) vigour, generative power 2) wealth 3) physical strength (of men and behemoth)
13 tagged verse occurrences · see every occurrence →(Job 40:15-24). Some have supposed this to be an Egyptian word meaning a “water-ox.” The Revised Version has here in the margin “hippopotamus,” which is probably the correct rendering of the word. The word occurs frequently in Scripture, but, except here, always as a common name, and translated “beast” or “cattle.”
Source: Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897). Historical dictionary wording reflects the scholarship and language of its era.
