Metheg Ammah

METHEG AMMAH (mē'thĕg ăm'a, the bridle of the metropolis). A town David took from the hands of the Philistines (2Sam.8.1).

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METHEG-AMMAH mē’ thĕg ăm’ ə (מֶ֥תֶג הָאַמָּ֖ה, metheg-ha-’ammah). A name or phrase occurring in 2 Samuel 8:1, where it is said that David took Metheg-hammah out of the hand of the Philistines. The ASV has tr. the name as “the bridle of the mother city.” The parallel passage (1 Chron 18:1) reads that David took Gath and its villages out of the hand of the Philistines. KB lists the name as unexplained.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)

me-theg-am’-a, meth-eg-am’-a (mathegh ha-’ammah, "bridle of the metropolis"; Septuagint ten aphorismenen): It is probable that the place-name Metheg-Ammah in 2Sa 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 1Ch 18:1 gath ubhenotheha, "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.