Bible Dictionary
IVVAH
Ivvah was a city conquered by the Assyrians and mentioned with Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, and Hena. Its exact location and even the precise reading of the name are uncertain.
Definition
Ivvah was apparently a city conquered by the Assyrians and mentioned with Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, and Hena. Its precise location and even the correct reading of its name remain uncertain.
Biblical Usage
Ivvah appears in the Assyrian claims cited in the narrative concerning the threatened conquest of Judah. It is listed among cities whose kings or peoples could not resist Assyrian power.
Historical Background
The name is absent from the Masoretic Text and Septuagint of Isaiah 36:19, and the forms in Kings may result from misreading. Proposed identifications include Hit on the Euphrates and Emma near Antioch, but these are considered improbable.
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>iv'-a (`iwwah; Aba (= Ava), Aua, 2Ki 18:34, Oudou, 2Ki 19:13, apparently due to a misreading): The name is wanting in the Massoretic Text and Septuagint of Isa 36:19.</p><p>Ivvah was a city apparently conquered by the Assyrians, and is mentioned by them, in the verses quoted, with Hamath and Arpad, Sepharvaim and Hena. It has been assimilated with the Avva of 2Ki 17:24 as one of the places whence Sargon brought captives to Samaria, and identified with Hit on the Euphrates, between Anah and Ramadieh, but this seems improbable, as is also the suggestion that it is Emma, the modern `Imm, between Antioch and Aleppo. Hommel (Expository Times, April, 1898, 330) upholds the view that Hena and Ivvah, or, as he prefers to read, Avvah, are not places at all, but the names of the two chief gods of Hamath, Arpad and Sepharvaim. This would be consistent with 2Ki 18:34; but 19:13: "Where is the king .... of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah?" and 17:31, where the gods of Sepharvaim are stated to be Adrammelech and Anammelech, raise serious difficulties. In all probability, the identification of Ivvah depends upon the correct localization of the twofold Sepharvaim, of which Hena and Ivvah may have been the names. The identification of Sepharvaim with the Babylonian Sip(p)ar is now practically abandoned.</p><p>See SEPHARVAIM.</p><p>T. G. Pinches</p>