Aramaic

Noun

בהמות • ‎(transliteration needed) m

1. behemoth

Hebrew

Pronunciation

• (Modern Israeli Hebrew) IPA^(key): /beheˈmot/

Etymology

In form it is a plural of בהמה, but in Job 40:15-24 the word is accompanied by verbs and adjectives in the singular (describing a big and powerful beast).

This fact can be explained either be assuming a pluralis excellentiae, a method of expressing greatness by pluralizing a noun, or by assuming a word in the singular.

The first approach is taken by the Septuagint (θηρία ‎(thēría)) and by the Targum (בעיריא), both translating the word as “beasts”.

The second approach is taken by the Midrash (Leviticus Rabbah 13:3), describing the בהמות as a great beast, and probably also by the Peshitta, transliterating the word rather then translating it: ܒܗܡܘܬ.

It has been suggested by modern scholars to be loanword from Egyptian peḥemau, an unattested word that would have ment “ox of the water”, i.e. hippopotamus.

Noun

בְּהֵמוֹת • ‎(behemót) m

1. (Biblical Hebrew) Meaning unknown, perhaps a water ox, that is, the hippopotamus or Nile horse.
2. behemoth, a great and mighty beast.

References

• “H930”, in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible, 1979
• Brown, Francis; Driver, Samuel Rolles; Briggs, Charles Augustus (1906) A Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• Koehler, Ludwig; Walter, Baumgartner (1994–2000) The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, Leiden: Brill