The term "Anakim" and its associated names appear numerous times throughout the English Standard Version (ESV) of the Bible. Here is a detailed compilation of the biblical references, including the full text of each verse, followed by an analysis of the geographic campaign against them.
Anakim (9 occurrences)
The word "Anakim" is found 9 times in the ESV. These references primarily occur in the books of Deuteronomy and Joshua.
- Deuteronomy 1:28
‘Where are we going up? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying, “The people are greater and taller than we. The cities are great and fortified up to heaven. And besides, we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.”’
- Deuteronomy 2:10
(The Emim formerly lived there, a people great and many, and tall as the Anakim.
- Deuteronomy 2:11
Like the Anakim they are also counted as Rephaim, but the Moabites call them Emim.
- Deuteronomy 2:21
a people great and many, and tall as the Anakim; but the LORD destroyed them before the Ammonites, and they dispossessed them and settled in their place,
- Deuteronomy 9:2
a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the sons of Anak?’
- Joshua 11:21
And Joshua came at that time and cut off the Anakim from the hill country, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from all the hill country of Judah, and from all the hill country of Israel. Joshua devoted them to destruction with their cities. There was none of the Anakim left in the land of the people of Israel. Only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod did some remain.
- Joshua 11:22
There was none of the Anakim left in the land of the people of Israel. Only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod did some remain.
- Joshua 14:15
Now the name of Hebron formerly was Kiriath-arba. (Arba was the greatest man among the Anakim.) And the land had rest from war.
Sons of Anak (8 occurrences)
The phrase "sons of Anak" appears 8 times in the ESV and is used interchangeably with "Anakim."
- Numbers 13:22
They went up into the Negeb and came to Hebron. Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, were there. (Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)
- Numbers 13:28
However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there.
- Numbers 13:33
And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”
- Deuteronomy 9:2
a people great and tall, the sons of Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the sons of Anak?’
- Joshua 15:14 (twice)
And Caleb drove out from there the three sons of Anak, Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai, the descendants of Anak.
- Judges 1:20
And Hebron was given to Caleb, as Moses had said. And he drove out from there the three sons of Anak.
Nephilim (3 occurrences)
The "Nephilim" are mentioned 3 times. The Anakim are described as descending from them.
- Genesis 6:4
The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. They were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.
- Numbers 13:33
And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”
Rephaim (25 occurrences)
The "Rephaim" are mentioned 25 times. The Anakim were considered a subgroup of this broader category of giant-like peoples.
- Genesis 14:5: In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him came and defeated the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim,
- Genesis 15:20: the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,
- Deuteronomy 2:11: Like the Anakim they are also counted as Rephaim, but the Moabites call them Emim.
- Deuteronomy 2:20: (It is also counted as a land of Rephaim. Rephaim formerly lived there, but the Ammonites call them Zamzummim,
- Deuteronomy 3:11: (For only Og the king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaim. Behold, his bed was a bed of iron. Is it not in Rabbah of the Ammonites? Nine cubits was its length, and four cubits its breadth, according to the common cubit.)
- Deuteronomy 3:13: the rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh. (All the region of Argob, that is, all Bashan, was called the land of Rephaim.
- Joshua 12:4: and the territory of Og king of Bashan, one of the remnant of the Rephaim, who lived at Ashtaroth and at Edrei
- Joshua 13:12: all the kingdom of Og in Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth and in Edrei (he alone was left of the remnant of the Rephaim); for Moses had defeated them and driven them out.
- Joshua 15:8: Then the boundary goes up by the Valley of the Son of Hinnom at the southern shoulder of the Jebusite (that is, Jerusalem). And the boundary goes up to the top of the mountain that lies over against the Valley of Hinnom, on the west, at the northern end of the Valley of Rephaim.
- Joshua 17:15: And Joshua said to them, “If you are a numerous people, go up by yourselves to the forest, and there clear ground for yourselves in the land of the Perizzites and the Rephaim, since the hill country of Ephraim is too narrow for you.”
- Joshua 18:16: then the boundary goes down to the farthest part of the mountain that is over against the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, which is at the northern end of the Valley of Rephaim; and it then goes down the Valley of Hinnom, south of the shoulder of the Jebusite, and downward to En-rogel.
- 2 Samuel 5:18: Now the Philistines had come and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim.
- 2 Samuel 5:22: And the Philistines came up yet again and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim.
- 2 Samuel 21:16: And Ishbi-benob, one of the descendants of the giants, whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of bronze, and who was armed with a new sword, thought to kill David.
- 2 Samuel 21:18: After this there was again war with the Philistines at Gob. Then Sibbecai the Hushathite struck down Saph, who was one of the descendants of the giants.
- 2 Samuel 21:20: And there was again war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, who had six fingers on each hand, and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number, and he also was descended from the giants.
- 2 Samuel 21:22: These four were descended from the giants in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.
- 2 Samuel 23:13: And three of the thirty chief men went down and came about harvest time to David at the cave of Adullam, when a band of Philistines was encamped in the Valley of Rephaim.
- 1 Chronicles 11:15: Three of the thirty chief men went down to the rock to David at the cave of Adullam, when a band of Philistines was encamped in the Valley of Rephaim.
- 1 Chronicles 14:9: Now the Philistines had come and made a raid in the Valley of Rephaim.
- 1 Chronicles 20:4: And after this there arose war with the Philistines at Gezer. Then Sibbecai the Hushathite struck down Sippai, who was one of the descendants of the giants, and they were subdued.
- 1 Chronicles 20:6: And there was again war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number, and he also was descended from the giants.
- 1 Chronicles 20:8: These were descended from the giants in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.
- Isaiah 17:5: And it shall be as when the reaper gathers the standing grain and his arm harvests the ears, and as when one gleans the ears of grain in the Valley of Rephaim.
- Isaiah 26:14: They are dead, they will not live; they are shades, they will not arise; to that end you have visited them with destruction and wiped out all remembrance of them.
The Geographic Campaign Against the Anakim
The biblical account of Yahweh's campaign against the Anakim, carried out by the Israelites under Joshua, is geographically specific. The Anakim were not scattered randomly but were concentrated in the mountainous regions of southern Canaan, areas that would later become the heartland of the tribe of Judah.
The primary stronghold of the Anakim was the city of Hebron (also called Kiriath-arba), a strategically important city in the hill country of Judah. Joshua 15:14 explicitly states that Caleb drove out the three sons of Anak—Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai—from Hebron. This city was their capital and power base.
The military campaign described in Joshua 11:21 outlines a systematic sweep through this region: "And Joshua came at that time and cut off the Anakim from the hill country, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from all the hill country of Judah, and from all the hill country of Israel." This verse provides a clear geographical progression:
- Hebron: Their capital city.
- Debir: Another significant city south of Hebron.
- Anab: A town in the hill country southwest of Hebron.
This campaign effectively dismantled the Anakim power structure in the central highlands. Joshua's strategy was to conquer and secure the mountainous spine of the land first, which neutralized the most formidable military threat and divided the remaining Canaanite forces in the north and south.
However, the conquest was not total. The narrative is careful to note in Joshua 11:22 that while the Anakim were eliminated from the Israelite hill country, remnants survived in the Philistine coastal plain: "Only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod did some remain." This is geographically and historically significant. It suggests that some of the Anakim were displaced and either assimilated into or found refuge among the Philistines in their powerful city-states along the Mediterranean coast. This detail later sets the stage for future conflicts, most famously the battle between David and Goliath of Gath, who is described as a descendant of these very people (the Rephaim/giants).
In essence, the campaign was a targeted highland conquest that broke the Anakim's territorial control, pushing the survivors to the coastal plains, thereby securing the promised inheritance for the tribes of Israel, particularly Judah.