SINIM, LAND OF

(Siʹnim),

A country from which, it was foretold, scattered Israelites would come, to dwell in and rehabilitate their homeland. (Isa. 49:12) Reference to the N and W in the same verse suggests that Sinim was S or E of Palestine. Instead of “Sinim,” the Septuagint reads “land of the Persians” (Bagster), which could include Elam, called Si-nim in Old Akkadian. (Compare Isaiah 11:11.) The Targums and the Vulgate, on the other hand, read “[land] to the south.” Certain scholars have suggested identification with the wilderness of Sin or the cities of Syene or Sin (Pelusium?), all generally S of the Promised Land. (Ex. 16:1; Ezek. 30:6, 15) Some have even suggested distant Sinae (China), but the presence of Israelites there is said to date only from a later time, the third century B.C.E. Hence, there is uncertainty as to Sinim’s location.