Deuteronomy 2:20-21
KJV
That also was accounted a land of giants: giants dwelt therein in old time; and the Ammonites call them Zamzummims; a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims; but the LORD destroyed them before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead.
A third giant clan, the Zamzummim, again measured against the Anakim standard. The verse also records that the Lord destroyed them before the Ammonites, showing divine judgment against these clans wasn't limited to Israel's own conquest but extended to other nations clearing their own land.
Term: Zamzummim — the name the Ammonites gave to this people, most commonly traced to a Hebrew root meaning "to buzz" or "to hum," likely describing their speech as unintelligible noise to outside ears. Deuteronomy 2:20 identifies them with the Rephaim under a different tribal name, the same giant clan called by a different label depending on which nation was doing the naming.
CKQ Commentary
C.K. Quarterman notes the naming pattern matters here. "Zamzummim" isn't an ethnic self-designation, it's what the Ammonites called them, likely mocking their language as unintelligible buzzing or muttering. That the Rephaim carried different names among different nations — Emim to the Moabites, Zamzummim to the Ammonites, Anakim in Canaan — tells you this wasn't one isolated legend. Multiple nations independently recorded encounters with the same category of people, under their own local names for them.
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