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Elihu
[People]Elihu is a young man in Job 32–37 who steps forward after the debate between Job and his three friends has ended and delivers a lengthy discourse. He is introduced as the son of Barachel the Buzite.
Abishag
[People]Abishag was a young woman from Shunem who attended King David in his final years. After David's death, Adonijah's request to marry her led Solomon to have Adonijah executed.
Chaldea
[Bible]Chaldea is a biblical term for a region in southern Mesopotamia and for the people who lived there. Scripture uses it for Abraham's homeland, "Ur of the Chaldees"; for the Babylonian Empire that destroyed Judah; and for a class of learned men and astrologers in the book of Daniel.
Jael
[People]Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, appears in Judges 4–5. She killed Sisera, the Canaanite commander who was fighting against Israel, in her tent, and the Song of Deborah praises her as one who shall be "blessed above women."
Asaph
[People]Asaph was a Levite musician in the time of David and a leader of the singers who led praise in the temple. Psalm 50 and Psalms 73–83 have come down as "Psalms of Asaph," and his descendants continued the ministry of praise after the return from exile.
Hierapolis
[Bible]Hierapolis was a city in the Lycus Valley in the region of Phrygia in Asia Minor. It is mentioned once in Scripture, in Colossians 4:13, as a place where Epaphras labored. The site lies near present-day Pamukkale, Türkiye.
Naboth
[People]Naboth was a Jezreelite who appears in 1 Kings 21. He refused to sell his ancestral vineyard to King Ahab and, through a scheme devised by Jezebel, was falsely accused and stoned to death.
Doeg
[People]Doeg was an Edomite who served as King Saul's chief herdsman. He denounced Ahimelech, the priest of Nob who had helped David, to Saul, and at Saul's command he killed eighty-five priests and the people of the city of Nob (1 Samuel 21–22).
Jephunneh
[People]Jephunneh is an Old Testament figure, the father of Caleb, the spy who gave a report of faith after the spying out of Canaan. Scripture mentions him almost exclusively in the phrase "Caleb the son of Jephunneh."
Cozbi
[People]Cozbi was a Midianite woman mentioned in Numbers 25, the daughter of the Midianite chief Zur. During the Baal-peor incident, she was killed by Phinehas together with Zimri, a leader of the Israelite tribe of Simeon.
Tertullus
[People]Tertullus was the courtroom orator who, in Acts 24, accused Paul before the Roman governor Felix on behalf of the high priest Ananias and the elders.
Agabus
[People]Agabus was a prophet of the early church who appears twice in the Book of Acts. At Antioch he foretold a great famine, and at Caesarea he prophesied through a symbolic action that Paul would be bound in Jerusalem.
Demetrius
[People]Demetrius was a silversmith of Ephesus, mentioned in Acts 19, who made silver shrines of the goddess Artemis. When Paul's preaching threatened his trade, he stirred up a riot. A different man with the same name appears in 3 John.
Ephron
[People]Ephron, the son of Zohar, was a Hittite who appears in Genesis 23. He owned the field and cave of Machpelah near Hebron and sold them to Abraham for four hundred shekels of silver, and the cave became Sarah's burial place.
Tobiah
[People]Tobiah is an Ammonite official in the Book of Nehemiah. Together with Sanballat and Geshem, he opposed the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. He later occupied a chamber in the temple and was expelled by Nehemiah.
Constantine I
[People]Constantine I (c. 272–337) was the Roman emperor who legalized Christianity and convened the Council of Nicaea. During his reign the church changed from a persecuted minority into a religion enjoying imperial protection.
Ananias (High Priest)
[People]Ananias was a Jewish high priest who appears in Acts 23–24. He ordered those standing by to strike Paul on the mouth as Paul made his defense before the council, and he later brought charges against Paul before the governor Felix.
Hiel
[People]Hiel was a man of Bethel who rebuilt Jericho during the reign of King Ahab of the northern kingdom of Israel. He appears only once, in 1 Kings 16:34, which records that he lost his firstborn and youngest sons in the course of building the city.
Betrothal
[Bible]In the Bible, betrothal (espousal) is the stage before marriage in which a man and a woman become legally bound to each other. It appears in Old Testament law and in the account of Mary and Joseph, and it also serves as an image of the relationship between God and his people and between Christ and the church.
Cyprus
[Bible]Cyprus is an island in the eastern Mediterranean, still known today by the same name. In the Book of Acts it appears as the home of Barnabas and as the first place where the gospel was preached on Paul's first missionary journey.