SHAMIR shā’ mər (שָׁמִ֖יר; LXX, Σαμήρ; thorn, sharp point, diamond, adamant).

1. The word appears several times in the OT and signifies “hard stone.” Translated sometimes as “diamond” (Jer 17:1) and “adamant” (Ezek 3:9; Zech 7:12), the substance was used as a stylus.

2. A Levite, son of Micah (1 Chron 24:24).

3. A town in Ephraim, the home and burial place of “Tola the son of Puah, son of Dodo, a man of Issachar” (Judg 10:1, 2). The site is unidentified but may have been near what later was Samaria, as may be implied by the fact that LXX A has Σαμάρεια, G4899, for Shamir. Why Judge Tola from Issachar was living in Ephraim is a matter of speculation.

4. A city of Judah (Josh 15:48) c. thirteen m. W-SW of Hebron. The site is prob. el-Bireh c. one m. N of Khirbet Somerah which preserves the name of the Biblical Shamir.