Bible Location
Meaning: the two books; the two scribes · 6 cross references · Modern-day map available
Sepharvaim was a Mesopotamian double city whose people were resettled by Assyria and whose name appears in imperial taunts against Judah. It is important because it belongs to the wider Assyrian world of conquest, deportation, and religious displacement. First appears in 2 Kgs 17:24.1
Place meaning
the two books; the two scribes
Coordinates
33.79, 44.46
First appears
2 Kgs 17:24
AI summary: Sepharvaim appears in Scripture through the machinery of empire. It is one of the places from which populations were moved into Samaria after Assyria's conquests, and it reappears when Assyrian spokesmen boast that even cities like Sepharvaim could not resist their power. That gives the place a role in both the demographic reshaping of the land and the rhetoric of imperial intimidation. The cross references present Sepharvaim as a conquered Mesopotamian city drawn into Assyria's system of resettlement and domination.1
Place meaning
the two books; the two scribes
Latitude
33.79
Longitude
44.46
Bible references
6
Taken by Sargon, king of Assyria (2 Kings 17:24; 18:34; 19:13; Isa. 37:13). It was a double city, and received the common name Sepharvaim, i.e., “the two Sipparas,” or “the two booktowns.” The Sippara on the east bank of the Euphrates is now called Abu-Habba; that on the other bank was Accad, the old capital of Sargon I., where he established a great library. (See SARGON.) The recent discovery of cuneiform inscriptions at Tel el-Amarna in Egypt, consisting of official despatches to Pharaoh Amenophis IV. and his predecessor from their agents in Palestine, proves that in the century before the Exodus an active literary intercourse was carried on between these nations, and that the medium of the correspondence was the Babylonian language and script. (See KIRJATH-SEPHER.) 3
Source note: this 1893 dictionary language reflects its period and may be culturally insensitive or outdated. It is presented as historical source material, not as ai-BIBLE’s language, interpretation, or endorsement.
AI-assisted summary prepared for ai-BIBLE and stored as page content, based on dictionary material, place metadata, and linked Bible cross references.
Alistair de Blacquiere-Clarkson, “ai-BIBLE Bible Names JSON Factsheet Aggregating Material from Smith’s Bible Dictionary & Hitcocks’s New and Complete Analysis of the Bible.” ai-BIBLE electronic edition, version 1.0.
M.G.Easton, Illustrated Bible Dictionary, ai-BIBLE electronic edition, version 1.0.
Robert Rouse, “Theographic Bible Information,” Theographic-Bible-Metadata, 2020, https://github.com/robertrouse/theographic-bible-metadata.