Search the encyclopedia
942 articles found for “King James Bible”
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."
Gedaliah
[People]Gedaliah was the man Babylon appointed to govern the people left in the land of Judah after the destruction of Jerusalem. He ruled from Mizpah until he was assassinated by Ishmael.
Elam
[Bible]Elam was an ancient nation and territory east of Mesopotamia, in what is now southwestern Iran. It first appears in Genesis as the name of a son of Shem; in the prophetic books it is an object of both judgment and restoration; and in Acts it is named as the homeland of some of those present at Pentecost.
Bozrah
[Bible]Bozrah was a major city of Edom mentioned in the Old Testament. In the prophetic books it frequently appears as a symbol of the judgment that would fall on Edom, and it is widely identified with modern Buseirah in Jordan.
Manuscript
[Bible]A manuscript is a book or document copied by hand from an original. None of the original documents of the Bible survive, and modern Bibles are translated from texts established by comparing manuscripts from many periods.
Targum
[Bible]The Targum is a body of Jewish literature that translates and paraphrases the Hebrew Old Testament into Aramaic. It arose from the post-exilic synagogue practice of reading the Hebrew text aloud and then rendering it orally into Aramaic.
Nisan
[Bible]Nisan is the first month of Israel's religious calendar, designated at the time of the Exodus as "the first month of the year." Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread fall in this month, and the Pentateuch calls the same month "Abib."
Cedar
[Bible]The cedar is a tall evergreen conifer that grows in the mountains of Lebanon. In the Bible it appears as a precious timber used to build the temple and royal palaces, and as a symbol of majesty and prosperity as well as of pride.
Taanach
[Bible]Taanach was a Canaanite city on the southern edge of the Jezreel Valley, near Megiddo. In Joshua and Judges it appears as a city of the tribe of Manasseh and as a battlefield in the Song of Deborah.
Gezer
[Bible]Gezer was a Canaanite city on the route between the hill country of Judah and the coastal plain. It appears in the account of Joshua's conquest and in the record of Solomon's building projects.
Kislev
[Bible]Kislev is the ninth month of the calendar used by the Jews after the Babylonian exile, corresponding roughly to November–December. Scripture names it in Nehemiah 1:1 and Zechariah 7:1.
Hushai
[People]Hushai was a figure of David's time, called "the Archite" and "David's friend." During Absalom's rebellion he feigned allegiance to Absalom, defeated the counsel of Ahithophel, and thereby aided David.
Ulai River
[Bible]The Ulai is a river near the citadel of Shushan (Susa) in the province of Elam, mentioned in Daniel 8. Beside this river Daniel saw the vision of the ram and the goat, and it is here that Gabriel first appears identified by name.
Rebuilding of the Walls of Jerusalem
[Bible]The rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem was an event of the Persian period in which Nehemiah led the reconstruction of Jerusalem's walls, which the Babylonians had destroyed, completing the work in fifty-two days. It is recorded in Nehemiah 1–6.
Shebuel
[People]Shebuel was a Levite in the time of David and the chief among the descendants of Gershom, the son of Moses. First Chronicles records him as the officer in charge of the temple treasuries.
Eglon (City)
[Bible]Eglon was a city in the lowland of southern Canaan. In Joshua 10 it joined an alliance of five Amorite kings and was conquered by Joshua. It later became part of the territory of the tribe of Judah.
Song of Deborah
[Bible]The Song of Deborah is a victory song recorded in Judges 5. Deborah, a prophetess and judge, sang it to God together with Barak after they defeated the army of the Canaanite commander Sisera.
El-paran
[Bible]El-paran is a place name that occurs only once in the Bible, in Genesis 14:6. It is recorded as the southernmost point reached by the coalition of Chedorlaomer as it struck the Horites of Mount Seir, and it lay at the edge of the Wilderness of Paran.
Tyre and Sidon
[Bible]Tyre and Sidon were Phoenician port cities on the eastern Mediterranean coast, in present-day Lebanon. In the Old Testament they appear as trading partners of Israel and as objects of the prophets' pronouncements of judgment; in the New Testament they appear as Gentile regions reached by the ministry of Jesus.
Salem
[Bible]Salem is the name of the city ruled by Melchizedek in Genesis 14. The Hebrew name shares a root with the word for "peace," and Jewish and Christian tradition generally regards it as an ancient name for Jerusalem.