METHEG-AMMAH

(Methʹeg-amʹmah) [Bridle of Ammah (possibly, Cubit)].

A place taken from the Philistines by King David. (2Sa 8:1) Since no site by that name is known, Metheg-ammah may well be a figurative term designating one of the principal Philistine cities. The parallel passage at 1 Chronicles 18:1 says, “Gath and its dependent towns.” At 2 Samuel 8:1 the American Standard Version evidently took the element “ammah” in Metheg-ammah to be from the Hebrew word for “mother” and translated Metheg-ammah as “the bridle of the mother city.” This thought is conveyed by An American Translation, which reads “the control of the metropolis” instead of “Metheg-ammah.”