🏺 Encyclopedia

The people and places the translation has reached — 198 places, 229 people, 2 crafts. Click a name for the full entry — description, every verse it appears in, and (for places) a growing film shelf of archaeology and geography footage from Expedition Bible.

Places

AbarimThe ridge on the eastern side of the Jordan valley from which Moses is told to look at the land he will not enter (Numbers…AchaiaThe Roman province covering southern Greece — the Peloponnese and the mainland as far north as Delphi — with CORINTH as its…AdullamThe town in the Judean lowlands (the Shephelah) where Judah 'went down' and took up with Hirah, his friend and go-between in…Aenon near SalimWhere John was baptising in John 3:23, 'because there was much water there' — a detail the Gospel bothers to explain, which…AiLandmark east of Bethel, fixing Abram's campsite (12:8) — 'the city' whose own famous story (Joshua's defeat, then conquest)…AkeldamaThe 'Field of Blood' — Aramaic ḥăqēl dəmā, which Luke transliterates and then translates for his Greek readers, a small detail…AnathothA Levitical (priestly) town in the territory of Benjamin, about three miles (5 km) northeast of Jerusalem — JEREMIAH's home…ArabiaIn Paul's day 'Arabia' meant the kingdom of the NABATAEANS — the Arab traders whose capital was the rock-cut city of Petra…AradA Canaanite city-state in the northern Negev whose king attacks Israel and takes captives at Numbers 21:1 — the raid Israel…Aram-naharaim (Paddan-aram)'Aram of the Two Rivers' — upper Mesopotamia, the region around Haran where Abraham's kindred stayed when he went on to Canaan…AraratThe mountain REGION where the ark rests (8:4 — 'the mountains of Ararat,' plural): the ancient kingdom of Urartu in the…AshdodOne of the five Philistine cities, on the coastal plain between Ashkelon and Joppa. It is where the captured ark was taken…AshkelonOne of the five Philistine cities, on the Mediterranean coast — a major seaport, and one of the oldest continuously occupied…Baal-peorThe local god of Peor, and by extension his shrine — 'the lord of Peor', the deity of the summit Balak had used two chapters…BabelFirst of Nimrod's cities in Shinar (10:10) and the site of the tower (11:1-9). Its own name, Bab-ili, means 'Gate of God'…BabylonBab-ili, 'gate of the god' — the city on the Euphrates that gave the world Hammurabi's laws, and under Nebuchadnezzar II the…Bamoth-baal‘The high places of Baal’ — the ridge Balak walks Balaam up at the end of Numbers 22 so that he can see Israel encamped below.…BashanThe high, well-watered volcanic plateau north-east of the Sea of Galilee — roughly today’s Golan and the Hauran — taken from…Beer-lahai-roi'The well of the Living One who sees me' — the desert spring where the angel found Hagar, its name minted from her own…Beersheba'Well of the seven / well of the oath' — the double-named well where Abraham and Abimelech swore over seven ewe-lambs…Bethany beyond the JordanWhere John was baptizing, east of the Jordan — not the Bethany near Jerusalem. The exact site was lost early: Origen, in the…Bethel'House of God' (Beit-El) — the site that gives Genesis one of its great scenes. Abram first camps east of it and builds his…BethesdaA five-porticoed pool by Jerusalem's Sheep Gate where a sick man who had waited thirty-eight years was healed (John 5:1-9) …Bethlehem'House of Bread' (Beit-Lechem) — first named in the Bible here, under its older name Ephrath, when Rachel dies in childbirth…BethsaidaThe town of Andrew, Peter, and Philip, on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee near where the Jordan flows in. The site is…BozrahThe chief city of northern EDOM, and the one the prophets name when they mean Edom's power: Amos burns its citadels (1:12)…Caesarea PhilippiA city at the foot of Mount Hermon, by one of the springs that feeds the Jordan — built around an older shrine to the Greek…Calah (Nimrud)Assyrian royal city (10:11-12); the modern mound is called Nimrud — the founder-figure's name still attached to the site.Cana of GalileeThe Galilean village of the first sign — water into wine at a wedding (John 2:1-11); Nathanael's hometown too (John 21:2)…Canaan (the land and its ancestor)Both a person — Ham's cursed son (9:25-27), father of Sidon and Heth (10:15) — and, in Genesis's 'genealogy is geography'…CapernaumKefar Nachum, 'village of Nahum' — a fishing town on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee that becomes the base camp of…CarmelThe wooded headland that runs out into the Mediterranean at modern Haifa — the greenest, wettest ground in the country…ChorazinOne of only two named towns Jesus specifically curses for unbelief (Matthew 11:21 / Luke 10:13), and the ONLY site in that…ColossaeA small town in the Lycus valley of Phrygia, in the Roman province of Asia, on the road east from Ephesus — and the least…CorinthA Greek city on the narrow isthmus joining the Peloponnese to the mainland, holding two harbours — one facing Italy, one…CreteThe large mountainous island south of the Aegean, fifth-largest in the Mediterranean and seat of Europe's oldest civilisation…CushThe Nile-valley kingdom south of Egypt (roughly Nubia/Sudan), circled by Eden's Gihon (2:13); in the Table of Nations, a son…DamascusAbram pursued the eastern kings as far as Hobah, 'north of Damascus' (14:15) — the ancient Aramean city, already a fixed…DanThe northern point Abram pursued the raiders to (14:14) — and an anachronism: the town was not called Dan until the tribe of…DibonAn Amorite town taken from Sihon (Numbers 21:30, already on these pages) and rebuilt by the tribe of Gad (Numbers 32:3, 34). ⚠…DothanThe grazing town where Joseph finally found his brothers — and was stripped, thrown into a dry cistern, and sold (37:17-28).…Dura'The plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon' (3:1) — the field where Nebuchadnezzar sets up his golden image and where…EdenThe garden's region, 'in the east' (2:8), watered by a river that splits into four. Two of the four rivers are certainly the…Edom (Seir)The nation and land descended from ESAU — the rugged red-sandstone highlands south-east of the Dead Sea, also called SEIR…Egypt (Mizraim)In Hebrew, Mizraim — also the 'son' of Ham whose name IS the country (10:6,13). Abram goes down in famine (12:10) and his stay…EkronThe northernmost of the five Philistine cities, and the nearest of them to Israelite territory — which is why Ahaziah's…ElamAn ancient power on the far side of the Tigris from Babylon (roughly southwestern Iran today), old enough that Genesis 10:22…Elkosh⚠ Nahum's home town, and NObody knows where it is — which is why it has no pin on the atlas. Four traditions compete: (1)…En RogelA spring at the junction of the Kidron and Hinnom valleys, below and outside Jerusalem — usually identified with Bir Ayyub…En-gedi'Spring of the kid' — a freshwater spring in the cliffs on the WEST SHORE OF THE DEAD SEA, about 400 metres below sea level…EnaimThe place on the Timnah road where Tamar sat veiled — and the site of one of the Bible's driest jokes. The Hebrew petach…EphesusThe great harbor metropolis of Roman Asia — temple of Artemis (one of the seven wonders), theater for 25,000, and by tradition…EthamThe SECOND station of the exodus, 'at the edge of the wilderness' (Exodus 13:20; Numbers 33:6-8), reached after Succoth and…Euphrates (Perat)The fourth river of Eden (2:14), named without description — the audience knew it. The defining river of Babylonia; later the…Ezion-geberA wilderness camp named in this project’s own itinerary chapter (Numbers 33:35-36), the last stop before Kadesh — and…Gadara and the GadarenesA Hellenistic city of the DECAPOLIS, on the heights south-east of the Sea of Galilee (modern Umm Qais in Jordan) …GalatiaA region of central Asia Minor (modern Turkey) — and the address of one of Paul's fiercest letters. ⚠ The name is genuinely…GalileeThe northern region of the land — hill country and a freshwater lake, ringed by Gentile territory, which is why Isaiah 9:1…GathOne of the five Philistine cities, and the hometown of GOLIATH. ⚠️ Its role in David's life is strange and worth holding onto…Gath-hepherJonah's home town — a village in the territory of Zebulun, in lower Galilee (Joshua 19:13; 2 Kings 14:25), traditionally…GazaThe southernmost of the five Philistine cities and the gateway between Canaan and Egypt — which is why it appears as a…GennesaretA short, exceptionally fertile plain on the north-west shore of the Sea of Galilee, between Capernaum and Magdala — Josephus…GerarA town of the western Negev borderland, on the road between Canaan and Egypt — where Abraham 'sojourns' (gur, 20:1; the name…GethsemaneAn olive grove at the foot of the Mount of Olives, across the Kidron valley from the temple, where Jesus prayed on the night…GibeonA major town about ten kilometres north-west of Jerusalem, and in 2 Chronicles the site of the tent of meeting Moses made in…GileadThe hill country EAST of the Jordan, the highlands where Laban overtook the fleeing Jacob and the two made their treaty…GolgothaThe place outside the walls of Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified. The name is Aramaic gulgolta, A SKULL, which Matthew and…GoshenThe district of the eastern NILE DELTA that Joseph gives his family to live in (45:10), and the address of Israel for the next…Haran (the city)Caravan city on the northern arc of the route from Ur to Canaan, where Terah's migration stalls and Terah dies (11:31-32)…HavilahLand of gold, bdellium, and onyx circled by the Pishon (2:11-12). Expedition Bible's Joel Kramer, tracing the Pishon to the…Hazar-enanThe north-eastern corner post of Canaan (Numbers 34:9-10), where the northern border stops and the eastern one starts. ⭐ The…HazerothA stopping-place on the wilderness itinerary, one march past Kibroth-hattaavah — the camp Israel reaches at the end of Numbers…HebronWhere Abram settles after Lot's departure, among the oaks of Mamre, and builds his third altar (13:18); also called…HeshbonSihon’s capital, on the plateau north of the Arnon, and the subject of the taunt-ballad quoted at Numbers 21:27-30 — a poem…Horeb (Mount Sinai)'The mountain of God' (Exodus 3:1), where the bush burns, where Moses is called, and where — one book later — Israel will camp…HormahThe place the survivors are chased to after Israel attacks the hill country without the ark — 'they struck them and beat them…Jacob's WellThe well where the conversation of John 4 takes place — and one of the very few sites in the Gospels whose location has never…JazerA town with dependent villages north of Heshbon, and the target of the only mission in the book of Numbers described with the…JerichoA city in the Jordan valley just north of the Dead Sea, and one of the oldest continuously occupied settlements known anywhere…JerusalemThe holy city — entered by name in this translation's published chapters at John 2:13, though its story here is far older, and…Jezreel'God sows' — a town on the eastern edge of the great valley that carries its name, the flat plain running from Megiddo to the…JoppaThe ancient Mediterranean seaport of Judah — modern JAFFA, now part of Tel Aviv — and one of the few natural harbours on the…KadeshThe great oasis of the north-east Sinai / Negev frontier — Kadesh-barnea, usually identified with the springs at Ein…KedarA nomadic Arab tribe and the region it ranged, in the deserts east and south-east of Israel. Kedar is the second son of…Ketef HinnomA burial site on the western slope of the Hinnom Valley, just southwest of Jerusalem's Old City walls. In 1979, in a tomb…Kibroth-hattaavah‘The Graves of Craving’ — the burial ground Numbers 11 (already on these pages) names for the people who died craving meat, a…Kir⚠ NOBODY KNOWS WHERE THIS IS — which is why it has no pin on the atlas. Kir is named four times: Amos 1:5 sends the Arameans…Kiriath-jearim'City of forests' — a town on the Judah/Benjamin border about nine miles west of Jerusalem, and the place the ARK of the…KittimOriginally CYPRUS — the name is connected with Kition, the ancient city at modern Larnaca — and then, as the horizon widened…LachishThe second city of Judah after Jerusalem — a great fortress guarding the Shephelah approaches, excavated since the 1930s and…LaodiceaA wealthy banking and textile center in the Lycus valley, rich enough to refuse Roman disaster relief and rebuild itself…LebanonThe mountain range (and the country that now bears its name) running along the Mediterranean coast north of Israel, famous…MacedoniaThe Roman province of northern Greece, the homeland of Alexander the Great three centuries earlier, holding Philippi…Machpelah'The double' (from kaphal, 'to fold, to double') — the cave at the edge of Ephron the Hittite's field, facing Mamre at Hebron…Mamre (the oaks of)The tree-grove near Hebron where Abram pitches his tent and builds an altar (13:18) — the third named tree at one of his…MareshahA fortified Shephelah town (Joshua 15:44; fortified by Rehoboam, 2 Chronicles 11:8), and the setting of Asa's great victory…MediaA power on the Iranian plateau, allied with Babylon under Nabopolassar to destroy Assyria's Nineveh in 612 BC — the very…Meribah of KadeshThe waters where Moses struck a crag he had been told to speak to, and lost the land for it (Numbers 20:12). The name is built…MidianThe land Moses flees to and shepherds in for forty years (Exodus 2:15) — home of the MIDIANITES, a people descended from…MoabThe nation and high plateau east of the Dead Sea, descended from MOAB, son of LOT by his elder daughter (Genesis 19:37).…Moresheth-gathMicah's home village — a farming town in the Judean Shephelah (lowland foothills), roughly 25 miles south-west of Jerusalem…Moriah'The land of Moriah,' where Abraham was sent to bind Isaac (22:2) — and one of the most consequential place-names in…Mount GilboaThe ridge on the southeastern edge of the Jezreel valley where Saul's reign ends — the Philistines drawn up on the plain…Mount HorThe mountain on the border of Edom where Aaron died, was stripped of the high-priestly garments in front of his son, and was…Mount of OlivesThe limestone ridge east of Jerusalem, across the Kidron valley, rising a little above the temple mount and facing it — so…Mount SinaiThe mountain in the wilderness where Jehovah gave Israel the Law — also called HOREB. Here Moses met the burning bush (Exodus…NazarethJesus' obscure Galilean hometown, never named in the Old Testament — hence Nathanael's 'Can anything good come out of Nazareth?'NinevehGreat Assyrian capital on the Tigris, founded in the Nimrod tradition (10:11); its mounds (Kuyunjik, opposite modern Mosul)…Nod'The land of Wandering,' east of Eden, where Cain settles (4:16) — the name puns on his sentence to be a restless wanderer (na…On (Heliopolis)The ancient centre of the Egyptian sun-cult, where Joseph's father-in-law served as priest (41:45) — Egyptian Iunu, Greek…Paran (the wilderness of)The large desert region of the central and eastern Sinai reaching north toward the Negev — not a settlement but a zone, and…PatmosA small rocky island of the Dodecanese, off the coast of Asia Minor — some 60 km from Miletus. Rome used such islands for…PeorThe third and last of Balak’s lookouts, ‘the top of Peor, that looks out over the face of the Jeshimon’ (Numbers 23:28). ⚠ At…PergamumOld royal capital of Asia, terraced up its mountain — 'where Satan's throne is' (Rev 2:12-17). The candidates: the Great Altar…PethorBalaam’s home, ‘by the River’ (Numbers 22:5). ⚠ In the Hebrew Bible ha-nahar without qualification normally means the…Philadelphia (Asia Minor)A frontier city on the edge of a volcanic plain so fertile it was called 'burnt land,' founded to spread Greek language and…PhilippiA city in eastern Macedonia, named for Philip II of Macedon (Alexander's father), who took it in 356 BC for its gold mines.…PisgahThe ridge above the Moabite plateau overlooking the wasteland, reached at the end of the itinerary in Numbers 21:20. ⚠ Hebrew…Pithom and RaamsesThe two 'store-cities' (arei miskenot — supply depots / garrison-granaries) the enslaved Israelites build for Pharaoh (Exodus…PunonA wilderness camp (Numbers 33:42), the second stop after Mount Hor. Feinan, its usual identification, is one of the largest…QumranA ruin on a marl terrace above the north-west shore of the Dead Sea, and the most consequential archaeological site in the…RabbahThe capital of Ammon, on the upper Jabbok — 'Rabbah of the Ammonites', and still called Amman today. It is the city outside…Ramah'The height' — a town of BENJAMIN a few miles north of Jerusalem, usually identified with er-Ram on the road toward Bethel.…RamesesThe city Israel departs FROM — ‘they journeyed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day’ (Numbers 33:3). Exodus…RephidimIsrael's last camp before Sinai (Exodus 17:1; 19:2) — the site of both the water struck from the rock at nearby Horeb and the…RiblahA point on Canaan’s eastern border, between Shepham and the sea of Chinnereth (Numbers 34:11). ⚠ Whether it is the SAME Riblah…RomeThe capital of the empire and, at roughly a million people, the largest city in the western world — fed by grain fleets from…SalemMelchizedek's city (14:18) — almost certainly the old name of Jerusalem ('in Salem is his tent,' Psalm 76:2); shalem carries…SamariaCapital of the northern kingdom of Israel from Omri onward — he bought the hill from a man named Shemer and built a new…SardisOnce the capital of Lydia, King Croesus's own city, on an acropolis so steep it was thought unassailable — and was famously…Sela (the rock)'The ROCK, the crag' — both a common Hebrew noun and the name of Edom's cliff-fortress capital. Obadiah's taunt turns on the…Sepharad⚠ AN UNIDENTIFIED PLACE whose misidentification became the name of a people — which is why it has no confident pin. Obadiah…ShechemAbram's first named stop in Canaan (12:6), at the great tree of Moreh — modern Tell Balata, between Mounts Ebal and Gerizim.…Shiloh (the sanctuary)A town in the hill country of EPHRAIM, north of Bethel, that was Israel's central sanctuary through the whole period of the…ShinarThe flat southern-Mesopotamian plain (Sumer/Babylonia) — no stone, hence brick and bitumen (11:3); home of Babel, Erech…ShittimIsrael's last camp east of the Jordan and the setting of Numbers 25. The name means ACACIAS — the desert tree whose wood the…Shur'Wall' — the desert fronting Egypt's north-east frontier, possibly named for the Egyptian line of border forts, and crossed by…SidonThe older of the two great Phoenician seaports, some 40 km (25 miles) up the coast from Tyre, and in Genesis 10:15 the…SmyrnaThe beautiful harbor city whose ringed acropolis ancient writers praised as 'the crown of Smyrna' — apt, for the letter that…Sodom (and Gomorrah)The chief of the cities of the plain by the Dead Sea, a byword for wickedness, destroyed by fire and sulphur from Jehovah in…Sodom and GomorrahFirst mentioned as landmarks on the Canaanite border (10:19). Lot drifts toward them by stages in ch. 13 (their coming ruin…Solomon's PorticoA covered colonnade along the eastern wall of the Jerusalem temple, where the crowd gathers after the healing at the Beautiful…Succoth'BOOTHS' — Jacob's first stop after crossing back into the land, west of the Jabbok in the Jordan valley. Genesis gives the…Succoth (the Exodus station)'BOOTHS' — the FIRST stop of the exodus, 'and the sons of Israel journeyed from Raamses to SUCCOTH' (Exodus 12:37; 13:20…SusaOne of the capitals of the Persian empire — the winter residence, in the lowlands of Elam, and much older than Persia itself…SycharThe Samaritan town of John 4 — 'a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob gave to his son Joseph.' The…TarshishA distant western seaport — the far edge of the known world, and the OPPOSITE direction from Nineveh, which is the whole point…TekoaAmos's home town: a Judean settlement about ten miles south of Jerusalem and six south of Bethlehem, perched on the edge of…TemanBoth a man and a district. TEMAN is a grandson of Esau — the son of Eliphaz, listed among the chiefs of Edom (Genesis 36:11…The ArnonThe river-gorge running west into the Dead Sea that forms the border between Moab and the Amorites — a fact Numbers 21:13…The Ascent of Scorpions‘The ascent of Akrabbim’ — SCORPION PASS. Aqrab is a scorpion, and ma’aleh aqrabbim is the scorpions’ climb: a steep road up…The Beautiful GateA gate of the Jerusalem temple where a man lame from birth was healed by Peter and John (Acts 3:2-10) — named only here in the…The Brook of EgyptNachal Mitzrayim — the south-western corner of the land, where the border turns from Azmon and runs out to the sea (Numbers…The Decapolis'The TEN CITIES' — a loose league of Greek-speaking cities east and south-east of the Sea of Galilee (Pliny's list includes…The Field of ZophimThe second of the three lookouts Balak walks his hired prophet to in Numbers 23, after Bamoth-baal and before Peor. ⭐ The name…The First TempleThe house SOLOMON built on the threshing floor David bought, on the hill Genesis 22 calls MORIAH — begun in his fourth year (1…the Gihon springJerusalem's water source — a karst spring in the Kidron valley immediately below the eastern ridge of the old city, and the…The Great SeaThe Mediterranean — the western edge of the land in Numbers 34:6-7, and the only one of Canaan’s four borders that needed no…The Horse GateA gate on Jerusalem's eastern wall, near the Kidron Valley — the far boundary-marker of the rebuilt city in Jeremiah 31:39-40…The JabbokA deep river-gorge east of the Jordan, a tributary running down to it through Gilead — and the scene of the most famous night…The Jeshimon‘The WASTELAND’ — the dry, broken country falling away toward the north end of the Dead Sea, the view from Peor at Numbers…The JordanThe river of the Israelite imagination, and a modest one: it falls from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea in about 105 miles…The Kidron ValleyThe valley running between Jerusalem's Temple Mount and the Mount of Olives, then south toward the Dead Sea — the city's…the land of UzJob's homeland, and genuinely unlocated. Two families of evidence pull in different directions: Lamentations 4:21 addresses…The Maktesh (the Mortar)A quarter of ancient JERUSALEM — the name means 'the pounding-bowl / MORTAR,' after the shape of the ground (a hollow…The Mount of Beatitudes'He went up the mountain; and when he had sat down…' (Matthew 5:1) — the unnamed hillside of the Sermon on the Mount…The NegevThe arid south of Canaan, toward which Abram travels by stages (12:9) — the land's dry margin, naturally on the way down to Egypt.The New JerusalemThe city that comes DOWN. It is not built in Revelation 21 and nobody enters it from outside — it descends out of heaven from…The Plain of the Jordan (Kikkar)The round, well-watered lower Jordan valley (13:10) — 'like the garden of Jehovah, like the land of Egypt' — that Lot chooses…the Red Sea (Sea of Reeds)The water Israel crosses (Exodus 14), and one of the most argued-over locations in the Bible. ⚠️ The Hebrew is YAM SUPH, 'sea…the river ChebarNot a river but the nāru kabaru, the 'Great Canal' — a major irrigation channel off the Euphrates running past the ancient…the river of EgyptThe south-western boundary of the land granted in the covenant (15:18), paired with the Euphrates. Usually identified not with…The Salt SeaYam ha-melach, the Salt Sea — the Dead Sea, and the corner post at both ends of Canaan’s southern and eastern lines. Numbers…The sea of ChinnerethThe freshwater lake the eastern border runs along in Numbers 34:11 — the Sea of Galilee, called Kinneret in Hebrew then and…The Sea of GalileeA freshwater lake about thirteen miles long and eight across, fed and drained by the Jordan, lying some 700 feet BELOW sea…The Second TempleThe temple these hands began — built on the platform of Solomon's ruined first temple on the eastern hill of Jerusalem, on the…The Seven Churches of AsiaEphesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea (1:11) — seven congregations of the Roman province of Asia…The TabernacleThe portable sanctuary Israel built at Sinai and carried through the wilderness — a curtained tent within a courtyard, God's…The Tower of HananelA tower on Jerusalem's north wall, named as one fixed end of the city's rebuilt boundary in Jeremiah's New Covenant chapter…The Upper RoomThe room upstairs, and the New Testament calls it three different things. Luke 22:11 has Jesus ask for the katalyma, the GUEST…The Wadi EshcolThe watercourse near Hebron where the scouts cut a single cluster of grapes so large they carried it on a pole between two…The wilderness of JudeaThe dry, chalk-and-limestone country that falls away east of the Judean hills toward the Dead Sea — close enough to Jerusalem…ThessalonicaThe capital of the Roman province of MACEDONIA and its largest city — a working port on the Thermaic Gulf, and a stop on the…ThyatiraThe smallest and least famous of the seven — an inland workshop town of trade guilds (its one other New Testament appearance…Tigris (Chidekel)The third river of Eden (2:14), 'running east of Asshur' — one of Mesopotamia's two great rivers, still flowing through Iraq.…TimnahThe town Judah went up to for his sheepshearing — a festival occasion — and on whose road Tamar took her seat (38:12-14).…TirzahFirst a woman and then a city. Tirzah is the youngest of Zelophehad's five daughters at Numbers 26:33; the name later belongs…TophethA real, walkable valley — gei Ven-Hinnom, ‘the valley of the son of Hinnom’ — running along Jerusalem’s southern and western…TyreThe great Phoenician seaport north of Carmel, built on an island a little offshore with a mainland settlement facing it — a…Ur of the ChaldeansAbram's birthplace (11:28,31) — the great Sumerian city of southern Iraq, sacred to the moon god Nanna (Akkadian Sin), whose…Valley of Siddim (the Salt Sea)Where the kings gave battle, glossed by the text itself as 'the Salt Sea' — the Dead Sea basin, 'pit after pit of tar' (14:3…Wilderness of SinA stretch of desert on the Israelites' route between ELIM and Sinai (Exodus 16:1), reached on the fifteenth day of the second…Wilderness of ZinThe dry region south of Judah in which Kadesh lay, and the stage for this chapter: the children of Israel, the whole…ZarephathA small Phoenician harbour town on the Mediterranean coast between Tyre and Sidon — its name means 'smelting-place, refinery.'…ZiklagThe town in the Negev given to David by ACHISH the Philistine king of Gath during his exile, and held by David's family…ZionOriginally the fortified spur the Jebusites held and DAVID captured — 'David took the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of…Zoan (Tanis)A city of the eastern Nile delta, the Greek TANIS, used by the Torah as a chronological yardstick: 'Hebron was built seven…Zoar'Little' — named from Lot's own plea, mid-apocalypse: 'is it not a little one (mits'ar)?' (19:20-22). A landmark fixing the…

People

AaronMoses's older brother (by three years, Exodus 7:7), the first HIGH PRIEST of Israel and head of the priestly line — the Levite…Abaddon / ApollyonThe king of the locusts loosed from the Abyss, named twice in one breath — once in Hebrew, once in Greek (Revelation 9:11).…Abel (Hevel)Keeper of sheep; his name is the Hebrew word for 'breath, vapor' — never explained by the text, fitting how briefly he lives.…Abimelech (of Gerar)King of Gerar — 'my-father-is-king,' possibly a dynastic title rather than a personal name (like 'Pharaoh'; an Abimelech meets…Abram / AbrahamCalled at 75 from Haran (12:1-4): land, nation, great name, and blessing for 'all the families of the ground' — Babel's…AdamThe first human — ha'adam, 'the human,' for most of the early chapters; the word shades into a personal name around 4:25-5:5.…AdonijahDavid's fourth son, by Haggith, and — with Amnon, Absalom and Chileab dead or out of the picture — the eldest surviving…AgagA king of Amalek, named at Numbers 24:7 as the standard Israel's king will exceed: 'his king shall be higher than Agag'. ⚠ The…Ahasuerus (Xerxes)XERXES I, king of Persia 486-465 BC. The Hebrew Achashverosh is a careful transcription of Old Persian Khshayarsha, which…Ahaziah of IsraelSon of Ahab and Jezebel, king of Israel for barely two years (c. 853-852 BC). His whole recorded reign is a fall through a…Ahikam son of ShaphanThe official whose 'hand was with Jeremiah, so that he was not given into the hand of the people to be put to death' (Jeremiah…AmalekIsrael's oldest and bitterest enemy — and, this chapter reveals, a grandson of ESAU: 'Timna was concubine to Eliphaz, Esau's…Ammon (the Ammonites)Israel's neighbour east of the Jordan, north of Moab — and, like Moab, traced in Genesis 19:38 to Lot's younger daughter, so a…AmosA Judean sheep-breeder from Tekoa, sent north — on most reckonings the EARLIEST of the writing prophets, preaching about 760…Amram and JochebedThe parents of MOSES, AARON, and Miriam — Levites of the clan of Kohath. The genealogy of Exodus 6 names them at the center of…AndrewSimon Peter's brother and one of the Baptist's disciples — the first to follow Jesus. He finds his brother with the words 'We…Anna the prophetessDaughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of ASHER — one of the northern tribes deported by Assyria in 722 BC and, in the standard…Antiochus IV EpiphanesSeleucid king 175–164 BC — never named in Daniel (the text calls him 'a contemptible man,' 11:21), but wearing his biography…ApollosA Jew of ALEXANDRIA, 'an eloquent man, mighty in the scriptures' (Acts 18:24), who arrived in Ephesus knowing only the baptism…Aram (the Arameans)The Aramaic-speaking peoples of Syria, whose chief kingdom was DAMASCUS — Israel's nearest and most persistent rival through…ArchelausHerod the Great's son by Malthace, and the reason the family settled in Galilee instead of Judea. Herod's will left him Judea…ArtaxerxesArtaxerxes I Longimanus, king of Persia 465-424 BC — the monarch behind both Ezra's and Nehemiah's commissions, and the 'this…AsenathThe Egyptian wife Pharaoh gives Joseph — 'daughter of Potiphera priest of ON' (41:45) — and so the mother of Manasseh and…BaalThe storm god of the Canaanites and Phoenicians, and the rival the Hebrew prophets name more often than any other. Ba’al is an…BalaamThe gentile seer of Numbers 22-24, hired by Balak of Moab to curse Israel and made to bless them instead — but who then taught…BalakKing of Moab, son of Zippor, who hires Balaam to curse Israel in Numbers 22-24. ⭐ What is worth noticing about him is his…BarabbasThe prisoner released instead of Jesus. The name is Aramaic bar-abba, SON OF THE FATHER, and Matthew does not translate it…BathshebaWife of Uriah the Hittite and then of David, whose taking of her is the great crime of 2 Samuel 11; mother of Solomon. In 1…BenjaminJacob's twelfth and last son, the second of Rachel's — born on the road near Bethlehem as she died in labor (35:16-18). Her…BethuelRebekah's father — son of Nahor (Abraham's brother) and Milcah (24:15, 24, 47), so Isaac's bride is the granddaughter of…BezalelThe craftsman of the tabernacle — son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and the first person in the Bible said to be…Caesar AugustusGaius Octavius, great-nephew and heir of Julius Caesar, sole ruler of Rome from 27 BC to AD 14 and the first to hold the title…CaiaphasThe high priest before whom Jesus was tried, in office roughly 18–36 CE — an unusually long tenure in a post the Roman…CainFirstborn of Eve ('I have gotten,' qaniti — the name is a pun), worker of the ground, first murderer; marked and exiled to…Caleb son of JephunnehThe scout from Judah who dissents. When the twelve return from Canaan and the assembly starts shouting, Caleb HUSHES them and…Chaldeans (Babylon)The neo-BABYLONIANS — a people of southern Mesopotamia who seized the Babylonian throne under Nabopolassar (626 BC), destroyed…ChemoshThe national god of Moab, named in the Heshbon ballad at Numbers 21:29, where Moab is addressed as ‘the people of Chemosh’. ⭐…ChloeThe woman whose household brought Paul the news of the Corinthian quarrels — 'it has been made clear to me… by Chloe's people'…Cozbi daughter of ZurThe Midianite woman killed alongside Zimri, named at Numbers 25:15 as the daughter of Zur, a head of a father's house in…CyrusCyrus II, 'the Great' — founder of the Persian empire, who took Babylon in 539 BC and issued the decree that ends the exile.…Daniel'El is my judge' — deported from Jerusalem as a youth in 605 BC, renamed Belteshazzar by the empire (a name the narrator…Daniel (Belteshazzar)'God is my judge' — a Judean of noble birth taken to Babylon in the first deportation (605 BC) and given the Babylonian name…Darius IDarius I 'the Great,' son of Hystaspes, king of Persia 522-486 BC — the emperor by whose regnal years Haggai and Zechariah…Darius the MedeThe king 'who received the kingdom' at Babylon's fall in Daniel's telling (5:31; 11:1 stands 'in his first year') — and the…Dathan and AbiramReubenites, sons of Eliab, who join Korah's revolt in Numbers 16 and whose grievance is a different one from his. Korah is a…DavidIsrael's second king and the figure the rest of the Bible measures kings against — youngest son of Jesse of Bethlehem…DeborahRebekah's nurse — a servant who appears twice, both times in silence and both times honored past her station. She is the…DinahJacob and Leah's daughter — the one daughter the family record names, and the still center of Genesis 34's storm. She 'goes…EleazarAaron's third son, and the one through whom the high priesthood actually descends. His two older brothers, Nadab and Abihu…EliThe priest and judge at SHILOH in Samuel's boyhood. He blesses the praying Hannah (after first mistaking her for a drunk) and…Eliezer (son of Moses)Moses' second son by Zipporah — named only once in the entire Bible, at Exodus 18:4, decades after his birth was never…Eliezer of DamascusAbram's servant and, before a son was born, his heir-presumptive (15:2) — 'the steward of my house.' The Hebrew that names him…ElijahThe Tishbite — the prophet who arrives in 1 Kings 17 with no introduction, no father named and no call narrative, announces a…Elimelech'My God is King' — a man of Bethlehem, husband of NAOMI, who takes his family to sojourn in MOAB during a famine and dies…Enoch (Cain's son)Cain's son (4:17) — not the man who walked with God two chapters later (5:21-24), a different Enoch entirely. Cain names the…Enoch (who walked with God)Seventh from Adam: the one man in Genesis 5 who does not die — 'Enoch walked with God, and then he was not there, for God took…EpaphrasA native of Colossae (4:12, 'one of you') who founded the congregation there — and, on the evidence of 4:13, those at Laodicea…EpaphroditusThe Philippian sent to Paul in prison with the congregation's gift, and the man carrying the letter back (Philippians 2:25-30…Esau (Edom)Isaac and Rebekah's firstborn twin — born 'ruddy (admoni), all over like a hairy mantle,' so they called him ESAU; and because…EuniceTimothy's mother — a believing Jewess of Lystra married to a Greek (Acts 16:1), and the middle link in the one family faith…Euodia and SyntycheTwo women in the congregation at Philippi, named in Philippians 4:2 because they were in conflict with each other. ⚠ That is…Eve (Chavah)'Mother of all the living' — the first personal name given to any human (3:20), punning on chai, 'life.' Named the fallen and…EzekielA priest, son of Buzi, deported to Babylonia with King Jehoiachin in 597 BC and called as a prophet five years later by the…GadJacob’s seventh son, born to Zilpah, Leah’s maid, and named on the spot: Leah cries ba gad — a ketiv/qere pair, the scroll…GershomMoses' firstborn son by Zipporah, named at his birth for the condition of his father's exile: 'I have been a sojourner in a…GershonThe eldest of Levi's three sons, and ancestor of the Gershonites — the Levite clan charged with the tabernacle's soft…GomerDaughter of Diblaim; Hosea's wife, mother of Jezreel, Lo-Ruchamah and Lo-Ammi. ⚠ She is named, and then never speaks — not one…Habakkuk'Embrace' or, more forcefully, 'wrestle' (Chavaqquq, most likely from chabaq, 'to embrace, grapple') — a name that fits its…HagarSarai's Egyptian slave-girl, given to Abram as a surrogate (16:1-3). When she flees, the angel of Jehovah — the Bible's first…HaggaiThe prophet of the book — the FIRST voice of the second-temple age, prophesying in 520 BC alongside his younger contemporary…HamorThe Hivite ruler of Shechem and father of the prince Shechem — the name means 'donkey.' He comes to Jacob as a smooth…Hananiah son of AzzurA prophet from Gibeon who confronted Jeremiah in the temple, in the sight of the priests and all the people, with a detailed…Hananiah, Mishael, and AzariahDaniel's three companions from Judah — 'Yah has been gracious,' 'who is what El is?', 'Yah has helped' — renamed Shadrach…Hannah'Grace, favor' — the barren, beloved wife of ELKANAH, provoked year after year by her rival Peninnah, who prays silently at…HaranTerah's third son, Lot's father — dies 'during the lifetime of his father Terah, in the land of his birth,' in Ur (11:28)…HazaelKing of Aram-Damascus in the later ninth century BC, and the most destructive enemy Israel faced before Assyria. He came to…Herod AntipasHerod the Great's son by Malthace (so ARCHELAUS's full brother), and the 'Herod' of the rest of the Gospel story once the…Herod the Great'King of the Jews' by vote of the Roman Senate — which is the title the magi walk into his palace and unknowingly ask him to…HerodiasGranddaughter of Herod the Great through his executed son Aristobulus, and so Antipas's own niece as well as, before their…HoritesThe original inhabitants of Seir, before Edom — 'the sons of Seir the Horite, the inhabitants of the land' (36:20), catalogued…Hosea'He saves' (Hoshea — the same name the last king of Israel bore, and the name Moses changed to Joshua in Numbers 13:16). Son…IsaacYitschaq, 'he laughs' — named by God before he is conceived, from Abraham's own face-down laugh (17:17-19), and given the…Isaiah'Jehovah is salvation' (Yesha'yahu) — son of Amoz, prophesying in JERUSALEM across the reigns of four kings, roughly 740-700…Ishmael'God hears' (yishma-El) — named by the angel for the affliction Jehovah heard (16:11), born when Abram was 86 (16:15-16), and…IthamarAaron's fourth and youngest son, and Eleazar's brother — the two who survived Nadab and Abihu's death by strange fire…Jacob (Israel)The third patriarch, and the one the nation is named for — born gripping his twin's HEEL (aqev), so called YA'AQOV…JairCalled here ‘son of Manasseh’ — though 1 Chronicles 2:21-23 (not yet on these pages) traces a Jair connected to this same…JamesJames 'the Just', the BROTHER of Jesus — not one of the Twelve (the Gospels show Jesus' brothers unbelieving during his…James son of ZebedeeOne of the four fishermen called at the lake, and with his brother JOHN and with Peter one of the three taken apart at the…James the Lord's brotherA brother of Jesus who did NOT believe during the ministry (Mark 3:21; John 7:5) but saw the risen Christ (1 Corinthians 15:7)…Jehoiachin (Coniah / Jeconiah)Jehoiakim's son, three names for one doomed boy-king: JEHOIACHIN (his full name), JECONIAH, and the clipped, almost…JehoiakimJosiah's son Eliakim, renamed JEHOIAKIM by Pharaoh Necho, who put him on the throne after deposing his brother Jehoahaz (2…Jehovah (the divine name)The personal name of God — the four Hebrew letters יהוה (YHWH, the Tetragrammaton), which this translation prints as Jehovah…JeremiahA priest's son from Anathoth, drafted as a boy over his own objection ('before I formed you in the womb, I knew you… I am only…Jeremiah'Jehovah exalts' (or 'loosens,' or 'establishes' — the root is uncertain). A priest of ANATHOTH in Benjamin, called in 627 BC…Jeroboam IIKing of Israel for forty-one years (roughly 793-753 BC) and the ruler under whom Amos and Hosea both preached. 2 Kings…JesusJesus of Nazareth, son of Joseph — the Word made flesh (1:14). Hailed by the Baptist as 'the Lamb of God' and 'the Chosen One…Jethro (Reuel)The priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law, who gives him his daughter Zipporah (Exodus 2:16-21). He is named REUEL here…JoabDavid's nephew and the commander of his army for the whole reign — indispensable, loyal in his fashion, and repeatedly a…JobThe hero of the book that bears his name — a man of the land of Uz, outside Israel and outside the covenant, 'blameless and…JochebedThe mother of Aaron, Moses and Miriam, named at Numbers 26:59 in the middle of the Levite genealogy: Jochebed daughter of…Joel'Jehovah is God' (Yo'el) — son of Pethuel, and one of the most anonymous figures in the Bible. ⚠ His heading gives NO KING…John (of Revelation)The seer of Revelation names himself only 'John — your brother, and companion in the affliction' (1:9). Tradition from the…John son of ZebedeeThe fisherman brother of JAMES, called with him from Zebedee's boat (Matthew 4:21), and one of the inner three. ⚠ He is NOT…John the BaptistThe witness sent ahead of Jesus, baptizing at the Jordan. He denies being the Messiah, Elijah, or the Prophet, calls himself…Jonah'Dove' (Yonah), son of Amittai ('my faithfulness,' from emet, truth) — so, literally, 'Dove, son of Faithfulness,' which is a…JonathanSaul's eldest son and heir, and David's sworn friend — the crown prince who took his father's rival's side. He wins a reckless…JosephJacob's eleventh son, sold into Egypt by his brothers and risen to be its vizier — the man whose foresight in the famine saved…Joseph the husband of MaryThe carpenter of Nazareth, betrothed and then married to Mary, and Jesus' legal (not biological) father — a 'son of David'…JoshuaMoses' military commander and eventual successor, introduced here with no genealogy and no backstory — already trusted to…Joshua son of JehozadakThe first high priest of the rebuilt temple, the priestly half of the pair (with the governor Zerubbabel) that carries Israel…JosiahThe last good king of Judah (reigned c. 640–609 BC) — crowned at eight, who purged the idols and, when the lost scroll of the…JudahJacob's fourth son by Leah, and the tribe descended from him — the ROYAL and messianic line. Born with the cry 'this time I…Judas IscariotThe apostle who handed Jesus over — 'Iscariot' probably meaning 'man of Kerioth', a Judean town, which would make him the only…Judas son of JamesThe OTHER Judas among the Twelve — listed by Luke both in his Gospel (6:16) and here, and identified by his father precisely…Jude (Judas, brother of James)The author of the letter that bears his name — 'a slave of Jesus Christ and brother of JAMES' (1:1). Naming James the Just…KeturahThe wife Abraham takes after Sarah's death (25:1; called a 'concubine' at 1 Chronicles 1:32) — mother of six sons who become…KohathThe second of Levi's three sons, and ancestor of the Kohathites — the Levite clan assigned the single most dangerous duty in…KorahA Levite who led a revolt against the authority of Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, claiming the whole congregation was holy…LabanRebekah's brother — and the narrator introduces his character in a single sly stroke: Laban 'ran out to the man, to the…LeahLaban's elder daughter, and the unloved wife — married to Jacob by her father's night-time trick in place of Rachel, the…LemuelThe king whose mother's oracle opens Proverbs 31:1-9 — and one of the most obscure named figures in the Bible. He appears…LeviJacob and Leah's third son — named for her hope that now, with three sons, her husband will be 'joined' (lavah) to her…LotSon of Haran, Abram's orphaned nephew (11:27-28), who travels with him from Haran into Canaan (12:4-5). He chooses the…MachirManasseh’s son, and the one grandchild of Joseph’s the Genesis narrative bothers to name: ‘the sons of Machir son of Manasseh…MalachiThe prophet of the last book of the Christian Old Testament — and possibly not a person at all. The Hebrew Mal'akhi means…Manasseh and EphraimJoseph's two sons by Asenath, born in Egypt before the famine, and both named for what exile had done to him. MANASSEH…Mary (the mother of Jesus)Never once named in John's Gospel — she is simply 'the mother of Jesus,' present at exactly two scenes that frame the whole…Mary the mother of JesusMariam of Nazareth. Luke gives her more attention than any other evangelist — the annunciation, the Magnificat, the treasuring…MatthewA tax collector called from his customs booth at Capernaum (Matthew 9:9) — and the only one of the Gospels to call him that.…MatthiasThe twelfth apostle, chosen by lot in Acts 1 to take the place Judas left. The qualification Peter states is strict — he must…MelchizedekKing of Salem and 'priest of God Most High' (El Elyon) — the Bible's first priest, who meets Abram returning from battle with…MerariThe youngest of Levi's three sons, and ancestor of the Merarites — the Levite clan charged with the tabernacle's heavy…MethuselahThe longest-lived man in the Bible — 969 years (5:27); on the Masoretic numbers his death lands exactly in the flood year.Micah'Who is like Jehovah?' (Mikhah, short for Mikha-yahu) — a Judean prophet of the later eighth century BC, contemporary with…Michael (the great prince)'Who is like God?' — an angel named after a rhetorical question, mi-kha-El, whose answer is NO ONE. In Daniel's vision-frame…Milcom (Molech)The national god of AMMON — 'the abomination of the Ammonites' (1 Kings 11:5, 7) — whose worship Solomon's foreign wives…MiriamSister of Moses and Aaron, and the first person in the Bible called a PROPHETESS (Exodus 15:20). As a girl she watches the…Moab and AmmonIsrael's two kin-nations across the Jordan, born in the cave above Zoar on the worst night in Genesis: Moab ('from father,'…MosesIsrael's deliverer, lawgiver, and prophet — born to a Levite couple (Amram and Jochebed) under Pharaoh's death-order, hidden…NahshonSon of Amminadab, CHIEFTAIN of the tribe of Judah at the wilderness census (Numbers 1:7; 2:3; 7:12) — and one of the most…Nahum'Comfort, consolation' (Nachum, from nacham, the root behind Noah and Nehemiah) — the seventh of the Twelve, and the author of…Naomi (Mara)Wife of ELIMELECH of Bethlehem, who loses husband and both sons in Moab and returns emptied to her home town, telling the…NathanThe court prophet who confronts David over Bathsheba and Uriah (2 Samuel 12), and whose arrival is named in the superscription…Nathan the prophetThe court prophet of David's reign, and the man who twice changes its direction. He delivers the dynastic promise of 2 Samuel…NathanaelThe disciple Jesus greets as 'truly an Israelite, in whom there is no deceit' — a Jacob without Jacob's guile. Convinced by…Nebuchadnezzar IIKing of Babylon 605–562 BC — the empire's great builder (the Ishtar Gate, the ziggurat Etemenanki) and Jerusalem's destroyer…NehemiahSon of Hacaliah, cupbearer to Artaxerxes I, and twice governor of the province of Judah. He hears in Susa that Jerusalem lies…NicodemusA Pharisee and an archōn — a ruler, almost certainly a member of the council — who comes to Jesus by night in John 3. ⚠ His…Nimrod'The first mighty man on the earth… a mighty hunter before Jehovah' (10:8-9) — the Table of Nations' only biography. His…Noah'This one will comfort us' (5:29) — righteous, blameless in his generation, walked with God (6:9). Built the ark, offered the…Obadiah'Servant / worshipper of Jehovah' (Oved-Yah) — the author of the SHORTEST book in the Hebrew Bible (21 verses, one chapter)…Og of BashanKing of Bashan, defeated at Edrei in the last three verses of Numbers 21. He is introduced as though the reader already knows…OnanJudah's second son, who married his brother Er's widow Tamar under the levirate custom and then refused its purpose — 'he knew…OnesimusA slave of Philemon of Colossae who ran away — perhaps having robbed his master (Philemon 18) — reached Paul in prison, was…OnesiphorusA believer from Ephesus who, alone against a general desertion, stood by Paul in his last imprisonment — 'he often refreshed…OrpahThe other Moabite daughter-in-law of NAOMI, widow of Chilion. Urged by Naomi to return home, Orpah kisses her mother-in-law…Pashhur son of ImmerPriest and paqid nagid — 'chief overseer in the house of Jehovah,' head of temple order — who answered the sermon over the…Pashhur son of MalchiahNOT the Pashhur of the stocks (that was the son of Immer, ch. 20) — a second official of the same name, sent by Zedekiah…PaulSaul of Tarsus — a Greek-speaking Jew of the tribe of Benjamin, trained as a Pharisee, a Roman citizen by birth, and the most…PerezThe elder of Judah and Tamar's twins, named for the midwife's startled pun — 'how you have BROKEN OUT, a breach (perets) upon…PeterSimon son of John, a fisherman of Bethsaida and Capernaum, renamed Kēphas/Petros — 'Rock'. He is the first name in every list…Pharaoh (of Genesis 12)The unnamed king whose house takes Sarai in and is struck with plagues (12:15-20). His indignant 'take her and go' makes him…Pharaoh (of Joseph's time)The king who dreams of seven cows and seven ears, cannot get a reading from his own experts, and then hands a thirty-year-old…Pharaoh (of the Exodus)The unnamed king of Exodus 1 — 'a new king over Egypt who did not know Joseph' (1:8) — who turns a rescued family into a slave…PhilemonA well-to-do Christian of Colossae, converted through Paul ('you owe me your very self', Philemon 19) though Paul had never…PhilipFrom Bethsaida, the town of Andrew and Peter. Called by Jesus with 'Follow me,' he in turn finds Nathanael and answers his…PhinehasGrandson of Aaron, son of Eleazar, and the man who ends the plague at Baal-peor with a spear in Numbers 25:7-8. ⚠ His name is…Pontius PilateRoman governor of Judaea, in office roughly 26–36 CE, under whom Jesus was executed — the only person besides Jesus and Mary…PotipharThe Egyptian who buys Joseph at the end of Genesis 37 — 'a court official of Pharaoh, chief of the executioners' (37:36). Both…Potiphar's wifeThe woman who propositions Joseph, is refused, and has him jailed on a false charge (Genesis 39:7-20). The Hebrew never names…QoheletThe speaker of Ecclesiastes, and not quite a person. Qohelet is a participle from qahal, 'to assemble' — so 'the one who…QohelethThe speaker of Ecclesiastes, and strictly a TITLE rather than a name: a feminine-form participle of qahal, to assemble, so…QuiriniusPublius Sulpicius Quirinius — Roman senator, consul in 12 BC, and legate of Syria from AD 6, when he conducted the census of…RachelLaban's younger daughter and the love of Jacob's life — a shepherdess he meets at the well and serves fourteen years to marry…RahabThe prostitute of Jericho who hid Joshua's two spies and let them down by a scarlet cord from her window in the city wall, in…RebekahIsaac's future wife — named, almost in passing, in the genealogical coda to the Aqedah: 'Bethuel fathered Rebekah' (22:23)…ReubenJacob and Leah's firstborn — his name (Re'uven) is Leah's cry, 'God has SEEN (ra'ah) my affliction… now my husband will love…RuthA woman of MOAB, widow of Mahlon, who binds herself to her Israelite mother-in-law NAOMI with the great oath 'your people my…Samuel'God has heard' (or 'name of God') — the child asked of Jehovah by his barren mother HANNAH and given back to serve at Shiloh…SanhedrinThe council of Jerusalem — Greek synedrion, literally a ‘sitting together’, the same word English borrowed for a synod. Under…SarahAbraham's wife, and the only woman in the Hebrew Bible whose age at death is recorded (127, Genesis 23:1). ⚠ Hebrews 11 makes…Sarai / SarahAbram's wife — introduced with the sentence everything turns on: 'Now Sarai was barren; she had no child' (11:30). Endangered…Satan'The ADVERSARY' — Hebrew ha-satan is not originally a name but a job description, the one who opposes or brings the…Saul (Israel's first king)Israel's FIRST king — a tall young Benjaminite sent to look for lost donkeys who came home anointed (1 Samuel 9-10). He is the…SerahThe daughter of Asher, named at Numbers 26:46 in the middle of a roll of sons, for no stated reason. ⭐ Searched across the…Seth'Appointed' (shat) in place of Abel (4:25); the line of promise runs through him — and in his days 'people began to call on…Shadrach, Meshach, and AbednegoThe three companions of DANIEL — Judean youths whose Hebrew names, HANANIAH ('Jehovah is gracious'), MISHAEL ('who is what God…Shallum (Jehoahaz)Josiah's son, the first of his heirs to fall — known by his personal name SHALLUM (22:11) and his throne-name JEHOAHAZ. The…Shem, Ham, and JaphethNoah's three sons, fathers of the Table of Nations' seventy peoples (10). Shem — whose name means 'Name' — heads the line the…Sheshbazzar'The prince of Judah,' who receives the temple vessels from Cyrus's treasurer (Ezra 1:8) and brings them up to Jerusalem — and…Shiphrah and PuahThe two Hebrew midwives of Exodus 1:15-21 — Shiphrah ('beauty') and Puah ('splendor,' or 'one who cries out') — who commit the…SihonKing of the Amorites at Heshbon, and the first king Israel defeats in battle. He refuses passage along the king’s road…SilvanusA leading member of the Jerusalem congregation, a prophet and a Roman citizen, chosen by Paul as his companion for the second…SimeonJacob and Leah's second son — his name (Shim'on, from shama, 'to hear') is Leah's cry that 'Jehovah heard that I was hated'…Simeon (in the temple)The man who was waiting. Luke calls him righteous and devout and gives him no office — not a priest, not a scribe, just a man…Simon PeterSimon son of John, Andrew's brother, whom Jesus renames on sight: Cephas — Aramaic kepha, 'rock,' rendered into Greek as Petros.Simon the Cananaean / Zealot⚠ ‘Cananaean’ is not a place-name and has nothing to do with Canaan — Kananaios transliterates the Aramaic qan’an, ‘zealous…SolomonDavid's son, Israel's third king — builder of the first temple, proverbially the wisest and richest man of his age: the gold…SosthenesNamed as the co-sender of 1 Corinthians — 'Sosthenes the brother'. ⚠ Luke names a Sosthenes as the synagogue ruler at Corinth…TamarJudah's daughter-in-law — widowed twice by his sons Er and Onan, then left in limbo when Judah withheld his third son Shelah…Tax CollectorsLocal men, usually Jewish, who bought or held the right to collect Rome's tolls and duties and made their living on what they…TerahFather of Abram, Nahor, and Haran (11:26-27). He, not Abram, first sets out from Ur for Canaan — and stops halfway, settling…The AmoritesThe people whose two Transjordan kingdoms — Sihon’s at Heshbon and Og’s in Bashan — Israel takes in Numbers 21. ⚠ The Bible…The Anakim (the sons of Anak)The people of unusual height living around Hebron when the scouts arrive — Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai are named (Numbers…The gods of Egypt (and the plagues)Exodus states its own thesis about the plagues: 'against all the GODS OF EGYPT I will execute judgments — I am Jehovah'…The KenitesA small people living among and alongside Israel, addressed in the fifth of Balaam's oracles at Numbers 24:21-22. Moses'…The MagiThe astrologer-priests who came from the east looking for a newborn king. The Magi proper were a hereditary PRIESTLY CASTE of…The Nephilim'On the earth in those days — and afterward too' (6:4), around the sons-of-God episode; 'the mighty men of old, the men of…The PhariseesA lay renewal movement, not a priesthood — scholars and craftsmen and villagers who held that the whole of life was to be…the PhilistinesThe 'sea peoples' of the Canaanite coast — Israel's great enemy through the era of the Judges and the early kings (Samson and…The Queen of ShebaAn unnamed monarch who travels to Jerusalem to test Solomon 'with hard questions' after hearing of his fame, arriving with a…The SadduceesThe priestly aristocracy who ran the temple — wealthy, few, and politically pragmatic in their dealings with Rome, since the…TheophilusThe man to whom both of Luke's volumes are addressed (Luke 1:3; Acts 1:1) — and the reason they are read as one work. The name…Thomas‘Twin’ — Te'oma in Aramaic, which John translates outright as ‘the one called DIDYMUS,’ the Greek word for twin (John 11:16…TimothyPaul's closest and youngest colleague — son of a Jewish mother (Eunice) and a Greek father, from Lystra in Asia Minor…TitusA Greek convert and one of Paul's most trusted delegates — and, pointedly, an UNCIRCUMCISED Gentile whom Paul refused to have…Uriah son of ShemaiahA prophet of Kiriath-jearim who preached the same message as Jeremiah — 'according to all the words of Jeremiah' — and was…Uriah the HittiteBathsheba's husband, one of David's elite warriors, and the man David had killed to conceal an adultery (2 Samuel 11). ⚠ The…UzziahKing of Judah for about fifty-two years in the eighth century BC (also called AZARIAH in Kings), and one of the two monarchs…VashtiQueen of Persia, who refuses to be displayed to her husband's guests and is deposed for it in the first chapter of Esther …Zadok and AbiatharThe two priestly houses of David's reign, and in 1 Kings 1 they end up on opposite sides. ABIATHAR is the sole survivor of…Zechariah son of BerechiahThe prophet of the book — 'Jehovah remembers' (zakhar + the divine name), a programmatic name for a book of restoration.…ZedekiahJudah's last king — born Mattaniah, installed and renamed by Nebuchadnezzar himself after the 597 deportation (2 Kings 24:17)…ZelophehadA man of Manasseh who had no sons, named at Numbers 26:33 in the middle of the second census along with all five of his…Zephaniah'Jehovah has hidden / treasured' (Tsephanyah, from tsaphan, to hide away, store up, protect) — the ninth of the Twelve, and a…ZerubbabelGovernor (pechah) of Judah under Darius, and the last real Davidic hope in the Old Testament — grandson of the exiled king…Zimri son of SaluThe Israelite killed by Phinehas at Numbers 25:8, named only at v14 — six verses after his death — and identified there as a…Zipporah'Bird' (tsippor, a small bird) — a daughter of the priest of Midian, given to Moses as his wife (Exodus 2:21), mother of his…

Crafts & Trades

The work of ordinary hands — the jobs the prophets and poets reach for when they want to say something about God. These entries explain how the craft was actually done, because that is usually where the metaphor's force is hiding.

The Ark of the CovenantThe gold-covered acacia-wood chest, two and a half cubits long, that Moses is told to build to hold 'the testimony' — the…The PotterThe commonest craft in the ancient world, and the one the prophets reach for most often when they want to say something about…

🎬 Coming to the encyclopedia

Videos already found and credited to Expedition Bible, waiting for the translation to reach the book or chapter they belong to — logged here so nothing gets lost between now and then.

▶ “The Problem” of Joshua's Ai...SOLVED!

→ Joshua 7-8 (the battle of Ai)

Already lightly placed as a PREVIEW on the 'ai' encyclopedia entry (Genesis 12:8) — give it its full placement when Joshua 7-8 is translated.

▶ The Discovery of Joshua's Great Witness Stone at Shechem

→ Joshua 24 (the covenant renewal at Shechem)

Already lightly placed as a PREVIEW on the 'shechem' encyclopedia entry (Genesis 12:6) — give it its full placement when Joshua 24 is translated.

▶ BETHEL: Where Jacob Met God

→ Genesis 28 (Jacob's ladder)

Already lightly placed as a PREVIEW on the 'bethel' encyclopedia entry (Genesis 12:8) — give it its full placement when Genesis 28 is translated.

▶ Caesarea: The City that Changed the World!

→ Acts (Cornelius, Paul's imprisonment)

Herod's port city; the setting for several Acts episodes.