E'tam, The rock,
a cliff or lofty rock, into a cleft or chasm of which Samson retired after his slaughter of the Philistines.
This natural stronghold was in the tribe of Judah; and near it, probably at its foot, were Lehi and Ramath-lehi and Enhakkore.
The name Etam was held by a city in the neighborhood of Bethlehem,
which is known to have been situated in the extremely uneven and broken country round the modern Urtas.
And he smiteth them hip and thigh -- a great smiting, and goeth down and dwelleth in the cleft of the rock Etam. And the Philistines go up, and encamp in Judah, and are spread out in Lehi,
And three thousand men of Judah go down unto the cleft of the rock Etam, and say to Samson, 'Hast thou now known that the Philistines are rulers over us? and what is this thou hast done to us?' And he saith to them, 'As they did to me, so I did to them.'
He hath come unto Lehi -- and the Philistines have shouted at meeting him -- and the Spirit of Jehovah prospereth over him, and the thick bands which are on his arms are as flax which they burn with fire, and his bands are wasted from off his hands,
And it cometh to pass when he finisheth speaking, that he casteth away the jaw-bone out of his hand, and calleth that place Ramath-Lehi;
And God cleaveth the hollow place which is in Lehi, and waters come out of it, and he drinketh, and his spirit cometh back, and he reviveth; therefore hath one called its name 'The fountain of him who is calling,' which is in Lehi unto this day.