Bible Encyclopedias
Metheg-Ammah

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

mē - theg - am´a , meth - eg - am´a ( האמּה מתג , methegh hā - 'ammāh , "bridle of the metropolis"; Septuagint τὴν ἀφορισμένην , tḗn aphorisménēn ): It is probable that the place-name Metheg-Ammah in 2 Samuel 8:1 the King James Version should be rendered as in the Revised Version (British and American), "the bridle of the mother city," i.e. Gath, since we find in the parallel passage in 1 Chronicles 18:1 וּבנתיה גּת , gath ūbhenōthehā , "Gath and her daughters," i.e. daughter towns. The Septuagint has an entirely different reading: "and David took the tribute out of the hand of the Philistines," showing that they had a different text from what we now have in the Hebrew. The text is evidently corrupt. If a place is intended its site is unknown, but it must have been in the Philistine plain and in the vicinity of Gath.