What is…
Madmen

Hebrew: מַדְמֵן —transliteration: Madmen

This is the name of a Moabite town threatened with the sword of the Babylonians. It is mentioned only once in Scripture. It may have been small.

There is praise for Moab no longer;
In Heshbon they have devised calamity against her:
‘Come and let us cut her off from being a nation’
You too, Madmen, will be silenced;
The sword will follow after you. —Jeremiah 48:2

The exact location of this town is not certain. It was likely located near ancient Heshbon (a royal Moabite city) or Dibon (site of the Mesha Stele) in Moab, or perhaps near the Arnon Gorge. Some scholars link it to Khirbat al-Mudayna (or Khirbet el-Medineh / Tell el-Medine), which has 6th-century BC destruction evidence and Babylonian arrowheads.

Moab was located immediately east of the Dead Sea.

The town’s name may derive from domen (“dung/manure”), a wordplay, occasionally connected to Dimon/Dibon variants, but distinct in most sources.

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Article Version: January 22, 2026