Traditionally "bênê ’ēlîm" has been interpreted as 'sons of the mighty', 'mighty ones', for "’El" can mean 'mighty', though such use may be metaphorical (compare the English expression " God awful"). It is possible also that the expression "’ēlîm" in both places descends from an archaic stock phrase in which "’lm" was a singular form with the "m"-enclitic and therefore to be translated as 'sons of Ēl'. The "m"-enclitic appears elsewhere in the Tanakh and in other Semitic languages. Its meaning is unknown, possibly simply emphasis. It appears in similar contexts in Ugaritic texts where the expression "bn ’il" alternates with "bn ’ilm", but both must mean 'sons of Ēl'. That phrase with "m"-enclitic also appears in Phoenician inscriptions as late as the fifth century BCE.