DIMON

(Diʹmon).

A site mentioned in Isaiah’s pronouncement of doom upon Moab; the slaughter of the Moabites causes the waters of Dimon to become “full of blood.”—Isa. 15:9.

Some commentators consider Dimon to be another form of Dibon (mentioned in verse two of the prophecy), such form being used to provide an alliteration or play on the sound of the Hebrew word for “blood” (dam), thus “Dimon . . . full of dam.” In favor of such a view is the fact that the Dead Sea Schrolls use “Dibon” instead of “Dimon,” and Jerome’s statement that in his day (c. 340-420 C.E.) the two names were used interchangeably.

Others, however, consider it improbable that the name of Dibon would be presented in two different ways within the brief pronouncement, and also note that no other place in the pronouncement receives double mention. They further point out that Dibon did not stand by any large “waters,” it being a considerable distance from the nearest stream, the river Arnon. They suggest, therefore, that Dimon may be a scribal alteration of Madmen, mentioned in Jeremiah’s condemnation of Moab (48:2), and usually identified with Khirbet Dimneh, two and a half miles (4 kilometers) NW of Rabbah, on a height dominating the waters of the ‘Ain el-Megheisil to the SE.

Both views are conjectural, the latter having in its favor the identification with a site associated with waters, which the context seems to require.