Biblical Encyclopedia: J

Jaakan

(oppressed) (1 Chr 5:13) - one of seven chiefs of the tribe of Gad who lived in Bashan.

Jaakobah Jocaba

(supplanter) (1 Chr 4:36) - one of the princes of his people, of the tribe of Simeon.

Jaala Jelel

(gazelle) (Ezra 2:56; Neh 7:58). The sons of Jaala are mentioned among the descendants of Solomon's servants in the lists of those who returned from Babylon with Nehemiah. In 2 Esdras 5:33 the name is Jeeli.

Jaanai

(God hears, answers) (1 Chr 5:12) - one of the chiefs in the tribe of Gad in the days of Jotham, king of Judah, and Jeroboam, king of Israel.

Jaare-oregim Ariorgim

(2 Sam. 21:19)—named as the Bethlehemite father of Elhanan in a difficult text concerning the slaying of Goliath the Gittite, whose spear shaft was like a weaver’s beam. The parallel passage says that Elhanan son of Jair killed Lahmi, the brother of Goliath (1 Chron. 20:5). The differences in the father’s name and the object of the verb are commonly explained as textual corruption in Samuel; Chronicles preserves the more coherent form.

Jaasai

(God is Creator) (Ezra 10:37) - son of Bani, an Israelite, and one of those who had foreign wives in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah.

Jaasiel

(the meaning is the same as that of the preceding word) (1 Chr 27:21) - a Benjamite, son of Abner and ruler in his tribe in David's time. From this it appears that David permitted Abner's family to retain its influential position in the kingdom during his reign.

Jaazaniah

(heard by God) - the name of three persons:

Jaaziah

(the meaning is the same as that of the preceding word) (1 Chr 24:26-27) - a descendant of Merari, son of Levi, and founder of a distinct branch of that family.

Jaaziel Oziel

(comfort of God) (1 Chr 15:16-18) - one of the Levites of the second rank who took part in playing musical instruments before the Ark when it was carried from the house of Obed-edom. In verse 20 the name is read Aziel.

Jabal Ada Jobel

(stream, brook) (Gen 4:20) - son of Lamech and Adah, and father of those who dwell in tents with livestock. Abel was the first keeper of sheep; Jabal, however, was probably the first to possess various kinds of herds, with which he moved from place to place, thus beginning the nomadic pastoral life; see Nomads.

Jabbok

(pouring forth) (Gen 32:22-24) - a brook or stream beyond the Jordan, flowing from east to north of Gilead and emptying into the Jordan. It is now called Wadi Zerka. Here the patriarch Jacob engaged in his mysterious wrestling with God. Deuteronomy calls it the border of the children of Ammon (Deut 3:16), though in Moses' time it was already the boundary of the territory of Sihon, king of the Amorites (Josh 12:2). In some parts of its course the stream ordinarily dries up at a certain season, but its lower part never dries up even in summer. Dense thickets of reeds and oleanders, together with oak groves along its banks, give the Jabbok a distinctive beauty.

Jabesh-gilead Jabis

(1 Sam 11:1; 1 Chr 10:11-12) - the principal city of Gilead, probably called Jabesh because of its position upon a dry hill. It alone took no part in the Israelites' civil war against the tribe of Benjamin and for this was almost entirely destroyed (Judg 20-21). All the male population of Jabesh perished by the sword, while four hundred virgins were given in marriage to the surviving Benjamites (Judg 21:8-14). When threatened by an Ammonite attack, Jabesh was saved by Saul (1 Sam 11:1-11).

In return, after the death of Saul and his sons the men of Jabesh-gilead 'took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, and came to Jabesh, and burnt them there. And they took their bones, and buried them under a tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days' (1 Sam 31:12-13). When David learned of this, he thanked them and promised them his special favor (2 Sam 2:4-7). In Robinson's opinion, Jabesh-gilead stood on the site of present-day Ed-Deir, ruins near Wadi Yabis, which flows into the Jordan southeast of Beth-shan.

Jabez

(causing pain) (1 Chr 2:55) - a city in the tribe of Judah in which the scribes known as the Sopherites lived; see Sopherites. The basis for the name is found in the words of the mother of Jabez, who named her son Jabez at birth, saying, 'I bare him with sorrow' (1 Chr 4:9).

Jabez and Jabesh

(dried up):

Jabin

(intelligent) - the name of two kings:

Jabneel

(God builds), also Jabneh:

Jachin

(he will establish) - the name of the following persons and object:

Jachin

(Num. 26:12)—a son of Simeon and ancestor of the Jachinite clan. Genesis 46:10 and Exodus 6:15 use the same standard English form; some older traditions spell the name differently.

Jacinth; Hyacinth

(Exod. 28:19)—the first stone in the third row of the high priest’s breastpiece in traditional renderings. The Hebrew leshem has been identified with jacinth, ligure, amber, or another reddish or golden stone; the precise mineral is unknown. The source suggested red tourmaline and compared its attractive electrical property with amber, but this remains conjectural.

Jacinth.

A word occurring in the Apocalypse, both as the name of a color (9:17) and as the name of a precious stone, numbered among the 12 precious stones forming one of the foundations of the walls of the new Jerusalem (21:20). Jacinth is a variety of zircon, red, yellow, or pale green in color. Some consider it identical with amethyst, others with the sardonyx. It is found in the Urals, but chiefly on the island of Ceylon, in sandy deposits. Jacinth, in the opinion of the ancients, possessed the property of attracting small bodies to itself, like amber.

Jacob

(Gen 25:26-34 and elsewhere) - patriarch, progenitor of the people of Israel, younger son of Isaac, and otherwise called Israel. His history is set forth in Genesis 25 and 27-50. Jacob was the son of Isaac and Rebekah and the brother of Esau. They were twins. 'And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled,' the sacred historian says concerning Rebekah, 'behold, there were twins in her womb. And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau. And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; and his name was called Jacob.' When the children grew, 'Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents.' Jacob was the beloved son of his mother Rebekah, and her counsel sometimes exerted a powerful influence upon him at important moments of his life.

The first manifestation of his independent life recorded in Genesis seems to reveal a certain craftiness in his character. Once Esau returned home from the hunt hungry, and Jacob proposed that he sell his birthright for bread and a dish of lentils (Gen 25:29-34). On another occasion, following his mother's urging, he forestalled Esau and obtained from his father Isaac the blessing intended for the firstborn (Gen 27:1-40). Because of this latter action, however, he had to flee and, in accordance with his mother's wish, withdrew to Haran in Mesopotamia, to his uncle Laban.

Before he departed, Isaac blessed Jacob and directed him to seek a wife among Laban's daughters (Gen 28:1-5). On the way to Haran Jacob had a miraculous vision: in a dream he saw a mysterious ladder joining heaven and earth, and he was promised the blessings God had given to Abraham and special protection throughout his life (Gen 28:10-22). When Jacob reached Haran, Laban received him kindly, and he agreed to serve him seven years for his younger daughter Rachel. After seven years, however, Laban deceitfully gave him his elder daughter Leah instead of the younger.

Jacob agreed to serve another seven years for Rachel, received her as his wife, and then remained in Laban's service for some time longer for an agreed payment in livestock, becoming exceedingly rich. Besides Leah and Rachel, Jacob also took their two maidservants, Bilhah and Zilpah, as wives; thus by the four women he had twelve sons and one daughter, Dinah (Gen 29-30; 35:16-19). At last, twenty years after entering Mesopotamia, Jacob perceived that Laban had begun to envy his prosperity.

He secretly departed from Laban's house with his family and all that he possessed and set out for the land of Canaan. When Laban learned of this, he pursued him and overtook him on Mount Gilead; he tried, though in vain, at least to recover the household gods he superstitiously worshiped, which Rachel had stolen and hidden beneath her camel's saddle. The affair nevertheless ended in reconciliation, and Jacob was able to continue his journey (Gen 30:25-43; 31). At Mahanaim God encouraged Jacob, for the angels of God met him.

Yet as he drew nearer to his homeland, he felt an involuntary fear in his soul, dreading a meeting with his brother Esau, whose anger against him, he thought, had not yet entirely subsided. Near the brook Jabbok, during the night, he endured a mysterious wrestling with God, received the new name Israel (one who wrestles with God), and called the place Peniel, saying, 'I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved' (Gen 32). Jacob's meeting with his brother Esau passed peacefully and lovingly.

Reaching Succoth, Jacob at first established a dwelling there, but then moved toward the city of Shechem. Near it he pitched his tent, bought a parcel of a field, and erected an altar to the Lord. After a tragic event - the dishonor inflicted upon his daughter Dinah by the prince of Shechem and the cruel vengeance taken upon the Shechemites by her brothers Simeon and Levi - Jacob, at God's command, set out with his entire household for Bethel. Before departing, however, he commanded all who were with him to put away the foreign gods, purify themselves, and change their garments.

Bethel became the place of new revelations of God's mercy to Jacob. On the journey from Bethel, Jacob's beloved wife Rachel died in a difficult childbirth after bearing him a son, Benjamin, and he buried her near Bethlehem. Isaac was still alive, being one hundred eighty years old, when Jacob visited him in Hebron; there he soon died, and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him (Gen 35). After this Jacob ordinarily lived in the land of Canaan, although Genesis does not state precisely where.

One day we find him living in the valley of Hebron (Gen 37:1, 15). The cruelty of Jacob's sons in selling his beloved son Joseph into Egypt became a source of bitter sorrow and grief to him (Gen 37). The famine that followed in the land of Canaan and his sons' two journeys to Egypt for grain likewise caused him much anxiety and distress. At last he was comforted by the joyful news that Joseph was alive and held in honor, and at Joseph's request he undertook the journey to Egypt (Gen 42; 45).

On his way he received a new sign of God's blessing at Beersheba; finally he reached Egypt with his whole household and rejoiced to behold the son he had long considered lost. Joseph went to meet his father in Goshen, fell upon his neck, and wept there a good while. 'Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive,' Israel said to Joseph (Gen 46:29-30). When Jacob was presented to Pharaoh, Pharaoh received him very graciously. 'How old art thou?' Pharaoh asked him.

Jacob answered, 'The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage' (Gen 47:8-10). Jacob blessed Pharaoh and departed from his presence. By Pharaoh's command Jacob, with all his sons and household, settled in the best part of Egypt, the land of Goshen, and remained there until his death seventeen years after his arrival (Gen 47).

Before his death he blessed Joseph's sons, commanded that he be buried at Hebron, and upon his deathbed pronounced a solemn prophetic blessing over all his sons, declaring what would befall them in the days to come (Gen 47:29-31; 48-49). After his death his body was embalmed, carried with great solemnity to Hebron in the land of Canaan, and buried in the cave of Machpelah according to his command (Gen 50:1-13). From this brief historical outline of Jacob's life it is evident that he was one of the greatest patriarchs of the Old Testament Church.

Throughout the repeated trials and afflictions of his long-suffering life of one hundred forty-seven years, he always endured with unshakable faithfulness to God, steadfast patience and submission to divine Providence, and unfailing trust in Him in every circumstance. Therefore, throughout the other books of the Bible, Jacob's name bears a very elevated significance, whether it denotes his descendants, the Hebrew people, or the people of God. Still more frequent in Holy Scripture is the other and more remarkable name Jacob received during his mysterious struggle with the heavenly adversary: Israel.

Abraham is ordinarily regarded as the father of believers, but Jacob, or Israel, became, so to speak, a symbol or representative of the whole Church of God on earth. The expressions Jacob, the name of Jacob, and the children of Jacob are often applied generally to the entire company of true believers on earth (Deut 33:10; Ps 14:6 and elsewhere). The New Testament Christian Church founded on earth by the Lord Jesus Christ and His apostles is often called the new Israel.

Jacob's well

(John 4:6) - its traditional name is reflected in the Samaritan woman's question: 'Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?' (v. 12). Its location was regarded as almost certain. The well is cut into rock, about seventy-five English feet deep and perhaps nine feet in diameter, beneath a low stone vault with a narrow opening. In some seasons it dries completely; in others it fills abundantly. The source says, probably through an error in transmission, that it stood thirty-five minutes' journey from Jerusalem. The surrounding fields were identified with the parcel of ground Jacob gave his son Joseph.

Jacob's Well

, near Shechem or Sychar, became famous through the conversation the Lord held there with the Samaritan woman (John 4). The well still exists and has often been described by travelers. The origin of its name is evident from the Samaritan woman's question to Jesus: 'Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?' (John 4:12). A church once stood over the well, but only a few fragments of it remained in the source's day.

The well lies east of Mount Gerizim, at some distance from Nablus, or Shechem, and is surrounded by grain fields. It is cut into the rock and covered above by a stone vault with a very narrow opening, now almost entirely collapsed. In summer the well sometimes dries up, but in autumn and winter it contains a sufficient supply of clean water. It is a walk of thirty-five minutes from the city. If the widely held tradition is correct, this well marks the very parcel of ground Jacob bought for one hundred pieces of money from the sons of Hamor and upon which he erected an altar to the God of Israel (Gen 33:18-20).

This parcel was given to Joseph (Gen 48:22; John 4:5), and here his bones came to rest after many years of wandering (Josh 24:32). Joseph's supposed tomb is shown a few yards farther north, on the opposite side of the entrance to the Valley of Shechem.

Jada

(he knows) (1 Chr 2:28, 32) - one of the sons of Onam, of the tribe of Judah.

Jaddai

(beloved by God) (Ezra 10:43) - one of those who married foreign women in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah and, at Ezra's exhortation, put them away. In 2 Esdras 9:35 the name is Ideus.

Jaddu

(2 Esdras 5:38) - one of the Levites who lived in the days of Ezra.

Jaddua

(glorified) - the name of two persons:

Jadin

(2 Esdras 9:48) - one of the Levites under Ezra. In Nehemiah 8:7 the name is Jamin.

Jadon Evaron

(judge) (Neh 3:7) - a Meronothite, a native of Meronoth, a village near Mizpah, who in Nehemiah's days helped rebuild the wall of Jerusalem together with the inhabitants of Mizpah and Gibeon.

Jael

(gazelle, wild goat) (Judg 4:18, 21; 5:6, 24) - wife of Heber the Kenite, who struck down Sisera, the commander of Jabin, king of Hazor; see Jabin. When Sisera fled after his defeat near Mount Tabor, Jael went out to meet him, invited him into her tent, covered him with a rug, and gave him milk to drink. Then, when he slept soundly from exhaustion, she drove a tent peg through his temple and showed his corpse to Barak (Judg 4). Her deed is forever enshrined in the lofty and triumphant song of Barak and Deborah (Judg 5). See Barak and Deborah.

Jagur Ara Asor

(dwelling place) (Josh 15:21) - a city in the south of the tribe of Judah, adjoining Idumea.

Jahath

(union) - the name of the following persons:

Jahaz

(a trodden place) (Num 21:23; Josh 13:18 and elsewhere) - a Moabite city, probably lying east of the Dead Sea on the border of the land of Moab, in the wilderness. Near it the Israelites defeated Sihon, king of the Amorites. Although this city is mentioned repeatedly in the Old Testament, its actual location remains unknown. Jerome placed it between Medeba and Dibon.

Jahaz

(“smooth place”) (Deut. 2:32)—a town or site in the wilderness east of the Dead Sea, associated with Moabite territory. Sihon king of Heshbon came out against Israel at Jahaz, where Israel defeated him. See Jahazah.

Jahaziah

(one who sees God):

Jahaziel

(God sees) (2 Chr 20:14) - son of Zechariah, a Levite descended from Asaph, who by divine inspiration foretold to Jehoshaphat victory without battle over the Ammonites and Moabites.

Jahaziel

(Ezra 8:5)—father or ancestor of Shecaniah from the sons of Zattu, with whom three hundred men returned from Babylon in the reign of Artaxerxes. Some Hebrew manuscripts omit Shecaniah’s name, and 1 Esdras preserves a different form.

Jahdai Addai Ragem

(taking captive; or, according to others, God is guide) (1 Chr 2:47) - a person named among Caleb's descendants.

Jahdiel Jediel

(gladdened by God) (1 Chr 5:24) - one of the renowned and powerful chiefs of the half-tribe of Manasseh.

Jahdo Jeddai

(united) - a descendant of Gad mentioned in the genealogy in 1 Chronicles 5:14.

Jahleel

(hope in God) (Gen 46:14; Num 26:26) - one of Zebulun's sons and progenitor of the family of the Jahleelites.

Jahmai Jamai

(protected) (1 Chr 7:2) - a grandson of Issachar and one of the chief men of that tribe.

Jahzeel

(God apportions) (Gen 46:24; Num 26:48) - the first of the four sons of Naphtali, Jacob's son by Bilhah, Rachel's maidservant.

Jahzeiah

(“the LORD sees”) (Ezra 10:15)—son of Tikvah, named with Jonathan son of Asahel, Meshullam, and Shabbethai in connection with Ezra’s inquiry into foreign marriages. The Hebrew may mean that Jahzeiah and Jonathan opposed the proposed procedure, whereas the source understood them as officials supervising the investigation. The grammatical and textual ambiguity should not be hidden.

Jahzerah Ezira

(Jehovah is helper) (1 Chr 9:12) - a priest of the house of Immer and ancestor of Maasai. In Nehemiah 11:13 he is called Ahasai.

Jair

(giver of light) - the name of several persons:

Jairite Iarin

(2 Sam 20:26) - the designation of Ira the priest in David's reign; the reason is unknown. It may refer to his origin from Havoth-jair, the settlements beyond the Jordan in Gilead or Bashan that belonged to Jair's descendants (Num 32:41 and elsewhere).

Jakeh

(obedient) (Prov 30:1) - father of Agur, one of the wise men who lived around the time of King Solomon and became renowned for his wise sayings. 'The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, even the prophecy: the man spake unto Ithiel, even unto Ithiel and Ucal,' the cited passage says of him.

Jakim

(established, appointed) - the name of two persons:

Jakub

(2 Esdras 9:18) - one of the Levites. In Nehemiah 8:7 the name is Akkub.

Jalon Jether Maron

(wandering) (1 Chr 4:17) - one of the sons of Ezra mentioned in the genealogy of the patriarch Judah.

Jambres

(2 Tim 3:8) - named together with Jannes by the holy apostle Paul in this passage. Both are also named in the Talmud and in the Targum of Jonathan on Exodus 7:11 as the magicians who acknowledged themselves defeated when the third Egyptian plague appeared (Exod 8:19). 'And the magicians could not stand before Moses,' says Exodus 9:11. According to tradition, they were sons of Balaam, and Theodoret testifies that St. Paul likewise learned their names from tradition. Traces of this tradition appear elsewhere: they are mentioned under these names by Pliny, the Pythagorean philosopher Numenius, and others.

Jambri

(1 Macc 9:36-41). Shortly after the death of Judas Maccabeus, the sons of Jambri suddenly attacked the Maccabean force, but were defeated and fled for shelter to a mountain.

Jamin

(right hand) - the name of three persons:

Jamin

(“right hand”) (Num. 26:12)—a son of Simeon and ancestor of the Jaminite clan. He is also named in Genesis 46:10, Exodus 6:15, and 1 Chronicles 4:24.

Jamlech Jemoloch

(ruler) (1 Chr 4:34) - one of the princes of the tribe of Simeon named in this passage.

Jannai

(Luke 3:24) - son of Joseph and father of Melchi, one of the persons in the genealogy of the Lord. The name is probably an abbreviated form of Jonathan.

Janoah

(place of rest) - the name of two cities:

Janum

(slumbering) (Josh 15:53) - a city of the tribe of Judah; apart from the fact that it was in the hill country, nothing more is known of it.

Japheth

(may he spread abroad) (Gen 10:1-2; 1 Chr 1:5) - one of Noah's three sons. Like his brothers, he was married but had no children before the Flood; after the Flood he had seven sons. Noah's sons are listed in the order Japheth, Ham, and Shem in Genesis 10 and 1 Chronicles 1, and opinions therefore differ concerning the time and sequence of their births. Ham was not Noah's eldest son (Gen 9:24), and the Russian Bible calls Shem the elder brother of Japheth, as he indeed was. Japheth's descendants populated Europe and northeastern Asia; the source associates this with what it regards as a notable resemblance between European languages and those of eastern Asia, except Chinese and related languages.

In Noah's prophetic blessing, Japheth was promised an immense expanse of possessions, with the remarkable words that his descendants would dwell 'in the tents of Shem' (Gen 9:27) - not as conquerors, but as participants in the blessing Noah gave to Shem. The history of the world and of the Church, the source says, fully confirms both parts of Noah's prophecy. Japheth's name occurs in many ancient traditions, and traces of it have also been sought in the names of Mount Nepat, or Niphates, in Armenia.

Japhia

(shining) - the name of a person and a city:

Japhia

(“shining” or “distinguished”) (Josh. 10:3-27)—king of Lachish and one of the five Amorite kings who joined the attack on Gibeon. After Joshua’s victory they hid in the cave at Makkedah. Joshua confined them there until the battle was finished, then brought them out, publicly demonstrated the LORD’s promised victory, executed them, and returned their bodies to the cave. The narrative presents the conquest within Israel’s ancient covenantal war and does not authorize private violence.

Japhlet

(deliverance):

Jarah Achaz Jada

(forester) (1 Chr 9:42) - a descendant of Saul and son of Ahaz, of the tribe of Benjamin. In 1 Chronicles 8:36 the name is Jehoaddah.

Jareb Jarim

- a word found only in Hosea 5:13 and 10:6. Its precise meaning has not been determined. In Hosea it is used symbolically of the king of Assyria.

Jared

(descent, lowland) (Gen 5:15, 18; Luke 3:37) - one of the antediluvian patriarchs, fifth from Adam, son of Mahalaleel and father of Enoch. After Methuselah he lived longer than any other person, namely 962 years. His name occurs in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus.

Jaresiah

(God nourishes) - a Benjamite, one of the sons of Jeroham, mentioned in 1 Chronicles 8:27 as a chief of that tribe.

Jarha Jochel

(an Egyptian word) (1 Chr 2:34-35) - Sheshan's Egyptian slave. Because Sheshan, a descendant of Caleb, had no sons, he gave him his daughter - believed to have been Ahlai - as wife.

Jarib

(adversary, enemy) - the name of the following persons:

Jarimoth

(2 Esdras 9:28) - one of the Israelites in Ezra's days. In Ezra 10:27 the name is Jeremoth.

Jarmuth

(elevation) - the name of two cities:

Jaroah Idai

(perhaps born at the new moon) (1 Chr 5:14) - one of the ancestors of Abihail, of the tribe of Gad.

Jashen Asan

(2 Sam. 23:32)—named through “the sons of Jashen” in the list of David’s mighty men; Jonathan is associated with this line. The parallel list has Hashem the Gizonite (1 Chron. 11:34), reflecting a textual difference.

Jashobeam

(the people will return) (1 Chr 27:2) - son of Zabdiel, commander of David's first monthly division and chief over all the military commanders for the first month. These commanders served David and assisted him in all his affairs month by month. Some regard him as the same person as Jashobeam in 1 Chronicles 11:11 and as the chief named in 2 Samuel 23:8.

Jashobeam

(the people will return) (1 Chr 11:11) - one of David's commanders, distinguished for strength and skill. The source identifies him with Jashobeam the Korhite (1 Chr 12:6) and Jashobeam son of Zabdiel (1 Chr 27:2), who joined David at Ziklag. His most celebrated feat was killing three hundred men at one time with his spear; 2 Samuel 23:8 gives the number as eight hundred.

Jashub

(he will return) - the name of two persons:

Jashubi-lehem Abederin

- a word of undetermined meaning found only in 1 Chronicles 4:22. Whether it is the name of a person or of a place remains unresolved.

Jasiel

(2 Esdras 9:30) - one of the Israelites in Ezra's days. In Ezra 10:29 the name is Sheal.

Jasiel the Mezobaite

(God is Creator) (1 Chr 11:47) - one of David's mighty warriors, from Mezoba.

Jason

(healer, physician) - the name of the following five persons:

Jasper

—a precious stone named in both Testaments. It occupied the third place in the fourth row of Aaron’s breastpiece (Exod. 28:20) and appears among the stones associated with Tyre (Ezek. 28:13). Revelation compares the One seated on the throne to jasper and carnelian (Rev. 4:3); the radiance of the New Jerusalem is like crystal-clear jasper, its wall is built of jasper, and jasper is its first foundation stone (Rev. 21:11, 18-19).

Jasub

(2 Esdras 9:30) - one of the Israelites in Ezra's days. In Ezra 10:29 the name is Jashub.

Jattir

(preeminent) (Josh 15:48) - a city in the tribe of Judah given to the sons of Aaron (Josh 21:14). David had friends there and found refuge there shortly before Saul's death (1 Sam 30:27, 31). The city is thought to have been in the hill country, and Robinson identified it with the contemporary village of Attir, halfway between Hebron and Beersheba. The identification is very plausible.

Javan

- the name of several persons or places:

Javan

(Isa. 66:19)—see Javan, entry 3.

Jazer

(a place fortified round about, according to Fuerst; according to Gesenius, one whom Jehovah helps) (Num 21:32; 32:1; Josh 13:25). The first explanation is more probable, since the city is thought to have existed before the Exodus and was then held by the Amorites. It lay east of the Jordan near Gilead. Under Moses it was conquered and destroyed by the Israelites, then rebuilt by the sons of Gad (Num 32:35). It was afterward given to the Levites, the sons of Merari (Josh 21:38-39).

Some prophets regarded it as a Moabite city; Numbers calls it a land, that is, the district or province of Jazer (Num 32:1). The prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah mention the luxuriant vine of Sibmah in Jazer, whose branches stretched beyond the sea and reached to the lake of Jazer; they also mention the noisy joy there at the grape harvest and the reaping (Isa 16:8-10; Jer 48:32-33). Jazer's present location is unknown, although it is thought to have stood at the present Wadi Seir, between Gilead and Heshbon.

Jaziz

(conspicuous, prominent) (1 Chr 27:31) - overseer of David's flocks. He is called a Hagrite, though the reason is not entirely clear, unless perhaps because he was a descendant of Hagar or an Ishmaelite.

Jearim, the field of Jearim

(forest, grove) (Ps 132:6) - the designation in this verse of the city Kiriath-jearim, where the Ark of the Covenant remained for a time in the house of Abinadab (1 Sam 7:1), before David carried it from there to Jerusalem (1 Chr 13; 15).

Jeaterai

(God accompanies) (1 Chr 6:21) - son of Zerah, a Levite descended from Gershon. In verse 41 of the Russian numbering he is called Ethni.

Jebacom

(1 Chr 26:7) - one of the sons of Shemaiah, the firstborn of Obed-edom.

Jeberechiah Barachias

(blessed by God) - father of Zechariah, mentioned in Isaiah 8:2. The Targum agrees with the Hebrew, but all the ancient Greek, Latin, Syriac, and Arabic translations read Berechiah (compare Zech 1:1-7; Matt 23:35).

Jebus

(Josh 18:16, 28; Judg 19:10-11) - the city of the Jebusites, or another name for Jerusalem. Whether the city took its name from the Jebusites or the Jebusites from the city is disputed; the source inclines toward the former view. The name Jebus occurs rarely in the Bible and never after David's time.

Jebusites

- descendants of Jebus, or inhabitants of the city bearing that name. The word designated one of the Canaanite peoples (Gen 10:16; 15:21; Exod 3:8). The spies sent by Moses speak of the Canaanites as a strong people dwelling in the mountains (Num 13:29). The same is said of them in Joshua 10:1, when Adoni-zedek was king of Jerusalem. The Jebusites were not fully subdued for a long time (Josh 15:63; Judg 19:11). Jebus, which is Jerusalem, lost its king at the battle of Beth-horon and was plundered and burned by the tribe of Judah; its fortress upon the height was occupied and subdued by David (2 Sam 5:6-7).

Even then the Jebusites could not be entirely expelled from their mountain ravines. In David's time Araunah the Jebusite was especially well known; David bought his threshing floor and oxen for fifty shekels of silver. Biblical history gives interesting details about this remarkable person (2 Sam 24:18-25; see Araunah). Solomon compelled the Jebusites, whose fortress David had taken, to pay tribute (2 Chr 8:7-8). They are mentioned with the other Canaanite peoples after the Jews returned from the Babylonian captivity, but by then they had clearly lost their former prominence, and the Bible says nothing more of them.

Jechiah

(1 Chr 15:24) - together with Obed-edom, a doorkeeper for the Ark of the Covenant when it was brought to Jerusalem.

Jecholiah

(mighty through God) (2 Kgs 15:2) - wife of Amaziah king of Judah and mother of King Uzziah, or Azariah; she was from Jerusalem.

Jedaiah

(praise of the LORD) - the name of the following persons:

Jeddu

(2 Esdras 5:24) - one of the priests, of the sons of Jesus. In Ezra 2:36 the name is Jedaiah.

Jedei

(2 Esdras 9:30) - an Israelite in Ezra's days. In Ezra 10:29 the name is Adaiah.

Jediael

(given by God) (1 Chr 26:2) - a Levite, a descendant of Korah, and one of the gatekeepers at the house of God.

Jediael

(known by God) - the name of the following persons:

Jedidah Jedia

(beloved) (2 Kgs 22:1) - wife of Amon and mother of King Josiah. She was the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath, a city of Judah (Josh 15:39). Since Josiah was distinguished for piety from childhood despite his father's impiety, the source supposes that Jedidah was a devout woman who greatly influenced her son's pious upbringing.

Jedidiah Jeddedi

(beloved of God) (2 Sam 12:25) - the name given through the prophet Nathan to Solomon, David's second son by Bathsheba, as a sign that the Lord had forgiven David's sin. The child was first named Solomon, meaning peaceful, and afterward Jedidiah because of the Lord's special mercy toward him. The source suggests that both names contained a symbolic indication of the Messiah. The custom of giving an infant a second name in addition to the one bestowed immediately after birth has continued in the East even to recent times, as in Nur ad-Din, Salah ad-Din (Saladin), and others.

Jeduthun

(praising)—the name of two persons:

Jegar-sahadutha

(heap of witness; the source calls it an Arabic word equivalent to Gilead) (Gen 31:45-49) - a heap of stones erected by Jacob's kinsmen as a memorial of the sincerity and permanence of his covenant with his father-in-law Laban (Gen 31:47-48). The heap was also called Mizpah, meaning 'to watch' or 'to observe.' 'The LORD watch between me and thee,' Laban said to Jacob, 'when we are absent one from another'; and there they swore by the name of God that neither would pass beyond the heap with evil intent against the other (Gen 31:44-55).

Jehaleleel

(he will praise God) - the name of two persons:

Jehdeiah

(he will be gladdened by the LORD) (1 Chr 24:20) - a Levite in David's days, son of Shubael and a descendant of Moses.

Jehdeiah

(he will be gladdened by the LORD) (1 Chr 27:30) - a Meronothite, one of the officers appointed to oversee King David's female donkeys.

Jehezkel Ezekel

(whom God strengthens) (1 Chr 24:16) - a priest in David's time who received the twentieth lot in the course of temple service.

Jehiel and Jehi

(God lives) - the names of several persons:

Jehoaddah Achaz Jada

(the LORD adorns) (1 Chr 8:36) - a descendant of Saul through his son Jonathan. His father's name was Ahaz.

Jehoaddan Joadaen

(the LORD is delight) (2 Kgs 14:2) - wife of Joash, king of Judah, and mother of King Amaziah. She was a native of Jerusalem (2 Chr 25:1).

Jehoahaz

(whom God strengthens) - the name of two kings:

Jehohanan

(gift of Jehovah) - a name very common in the later period of Hebrew history and corresponding to the modern name John; it designates the following persons:

Jehoiachin

(appointed by God) (2 Kgs 24:6; 1 Chr 3:16; Matt 1:11-12) - eldest son and successor of Jehoiakim king of Judah, by Nehushta. He reigned only three months and ten days and was then carried captive to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. After thirty-six years of imprisonment he was released by Evil-merodach. He died in Babylon (2 Kgs 24:8, 12; 25:28-30; 2 Chr 36:9) and appears in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ (Matt 1:11).

Jehoiada Jodae

(kept by God) - the name of the following persons:

Jehoiakim

(God raises up) - the name of the following persons mentioned in the Bible:

Jehoiarib Joarim

(whom Jehovah defends) (1 Chr 24:7) - head of one of the twenty-four priestly courses into which David divided the priests for divine service. He was progenitor of the renowned Maccabean family (1 Macc 2:1). Two of his descendants returned from Babylon with Nehemiah.

Jehoshaphat

(the LORD is Judge) - the name of several persons:

Jehosheba Josabee

(God is an oath) (2 Kgs 11:2) - daughter of Joram king of Judah and wife of Jehoiada the high priest (2 Chr 22:11). When her mother, or stepmother, Athaliah destroyed the whole royal house after the death of her son Ahaziah, Jehosheba and her husband first hid the infant Joash with his nurse in a bedroom and then concealed him for six years in one of the chambers of the house of the LORD. After Athaliah was deposed through Jehoiada's influence and Joash ascended the throne, Jehoiada's sons, probably including Zechariah, who was later killed by the ungrateful Joash, were present at the king's coronation (2 Chr 24:20-22; 23:11).

Jehosheba presents the unique example of a marriage between a woman of royal blood and a high priest. The source regards it as a special ordering of divine Providence, since the lawful royal dynasty was preserved through the rescue of the royal child Joash.

Jehovah

(the Existing One) (Exod 3:14) - one of the great and holy names of God, signifying the self-existence, eternity, and immutability of God's being: the name of Him who was, is, and shall be, and who said of Himself, 'I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he' (Isa 41:4), and, 'I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last' (Rev 1:11 in the source's citation). Out of reverence for this holy name, the Jews in ancient times regarded it as too fearful to pronounce and substituted either Adonai or Elohim, 'Lord.' Furthermore, according to Jewish tradition, the word Jehovah was pronounced only by the high priest, and that once each year in the Holy of Holies.

'I AM THAT I AM,' God said to Moses when sending him to the children of Israel; 'thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you' (Exod 3:14). 'This is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations' (v. 15). The name Jehovah nevertheless occurs in full or abbreviated form in many proper names in the sacred books, joined to them either at the beginning or the end. Such names belong to various persons and, naturally enough, occur much more often after Moses' time than before it.

Jehovah-jireh

(the LORD will provide) (Gen 22:14). Abraham gave this name to the place on Mount Moriah where he was to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice. To Isaac's question, 'where is the lamb for a burnt offering?' Abraham replied, 'God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering, my son.' He therefore named the place Jehovah-jireh.

Jehovah-nissi Refuge

(the LORD is my banner) (Exod 17:15). Moses gave this name to the altar he erected at Rephidim after the defeat of the Amalekites.

Jehovah-shalom

(the LORD is peace) (Judg 6:24) - the name Gideon gave to the altar he erected at Ophrah in memory of the angel of the LORD's greeting to him: 'Peace be unto thee.' The altar still existed when the Book of Judges was written.

Jehozabad

(one whom the LORD has given) - the name of the following three persons:

Jehu

(the LORD is He) - the name of two persons mentioned in 1 Chronicles:

Jehu

(God is He) (1 Chr 2:38) - son of Judah in the sixth generation from the daughter of Sheshan, whom Sheshan gave in marriage to his Egyptian servant Jarha.

Jehu

(the LORD is He) - the name of two persons:

Jehubbah Rooga Jaba

(he will be hidden) (1 Chr 7:31-34) - son of Shomer, a descendant of Asher through his son Beriah.

Jehucal

(strong, mighty) (Jer 37:3) - son of Shelemiah, sent by King Zedekiah together with Zephaniah the priest to ask the prophet Jeremiah for prayer. He was evidently one of the princes of the people (Jer 38:1), where he is called Jucal.

Jehud Azor

(praise) (Josh 19:45)—a city of the tribe of Dan, identified by Robinson and Schwarz with the present-day village of El-Yehudiyeh, to the east of Jaffa. Van de Velde agrees with this opinion.

Jehudi

(Jew) (Jer 36:14) - son of Nethaniah, sent to the prophet Baruch to ask him to read before the king the scroll containing Jeremiah's prophecy concerning Judah. He lived during the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah.

Jehudijah

(1 Chr 4:18) - wife of Mered, one of Ezra's sons, of the line of Judah.

Jehudith, or Judith

(Jewess) (Gen 26:34) - one of Esau's wives, a Hittite and daughter of Beeri. Elsewhere in Genesis (36:2), the source identifies her as Oholibamah.

Jeiel

(God carries away) (1 Chr 9:35) - an ancestor of King Saul, whose wife was named Maachah.

Jeiel

- the name of the following persons:

Jeiel

(2 Esdras 9:34-35) - the cited passages refer to two persons, one a son of Bani and the other a son of Elam. Both had married foreign women. Ezra 10:34 reads Chelluh, and verse 43 reads Jeiel.

Jeil

(Jdt 8:1) - one of Judith's ancestors.

Jekabzeel Cariatharboc

(assembly of God) (Neh 11:25) - a city in southern Judah. The name occurs in the list of places occupied by the Jews after the return from Babylonian captivity. It is otherwise called Kabzeel (Josh 15:21; 2 Sam 23:20).

Jekameam

(he will gather the people together) (1 Chr 23:19; 24:23) - a Levite in David's days, a descendant of Hebron, son of Kohath (1 Chr 23:19).

Jekamiah

(he will be gathered by the LORD) (1 Chr 2:41) - son of Shallum and a descendant of Sheshan, of the family of Judah, a Jerahmeelite.

Jekuthiel Chetiel

(fear of God) (1 Chr 4:18) - a son of Jehudijah, Ezra's wife, father of Zanoah and founder of the city bearing that name.

Jemimah Day

(dove, or day) (Job 42:14) — eldest of Job’s three daughters, born after his afflictions and many sufferings.

Jemini

(Judg 3:15) - the grandfather of the judge Ehud, son of Gera, son of Jemini. According to others, however, this is a family designation meaning Benjamite.

Jemnaan

(Jdt 2:28) - named among the coastal places of Palestine reached by the dreadful report of Holofernes' invasion. It was undoubtedly the Philistine city of Jabneh, or Jamnia, lying between Joppa and Ashdod near the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea.

Jemuel

(day of God) (Gen 46:10) - Simeon's eldest son, who moved to Egypt together with his father Jacob and his brothers. In 1 Chronicles 4:24 he is called Nemuel.

Jephthah

(God opens, that is, frees or sets free) (Judg 11:1; Heb 11:32) - one of the most notable judges of Israel, a son of Gilead by a concubine. Deprived of his inheritance and expelled from his father's house by the legitimate heirs, Jephthah settled in the land of Tob in the Syrian region. There he gathered a band of idle men, raided neighboring lands, and soon became renowned for his martial ability. His fame spread so widely that, when the Ammonites warred against Israel, the elders of Gilead asked him to lead them and fight the Ammonites.

Jephthah replied, 'Did not ye hate me, and expel me out of my father's house? and why are ye come unto me now when ye are in distress?' (Judg 11:7). He agreed to become their leader on the firm condition that, if he won the war, his authority would remain permanent.

Jephunneh

(he will be seen) (Num 13:6) - father of Caleb, one of the two faithful spies of the Promised Land, of the tribe of Judah. He is also called a Kenizzite; his son Othniel is likewise called the son of Kenaz (Judg 1:13).

Jephunneh

(with the same meaning as the preceding name) (1 Chr 7:38) - a descendant of Asher and the eldest of Jether's three sons.

Jerah Jarach

(moon, month) (Gen 10:26) - a son of Joktan in the fifth generation from Shem. He was progenitor of a tribe of southern Arabia, and the source suggests that traces of his name may have survived in the name of an Arabian fortress, Jerah in Yemen.

Jerahmeel

(he will obtain God's mercy) - the name of the following persons:

Jeramoth

(heights) (Ezra 10:29) - a descendant of Bani who had married a foreign woman. In 2 Esdras 9:30 the form is Jeremoth, of the sons of Mani.

Jerboa (source’s identification of the shaphan)

(Lev. 11:5)—the source follows an obsolete proposal that the unclean animal called shaphan was a jerboa or rabbit-like rodent. The Hebrew animal is now generally identified as the rock hyrax, a small, rock-dwelling mammal common in the Near East. Although it does not ruminate anatomically, its chewing movements appeared cud-like to ancient observers; it lacks a divided hoof. Proverbs describes the shaphanim as a feeble folk that make their homes in the rocks (Prov. 30:26). The historical engraving below depicts jerboas and should not be taken as a secure image of the biblical animal.

Jerech

(2 Esdras 5:22) - the name of a locality, apparently Jericho.

Jered Adia Jared

(descent) (1 Chr 4:18) - a descendant of the patriarch Judah who is called the father, that is, founder, of Gedor. He was a son of Ezra by his wife Jehudijah.

Jereel

(2 Esdras 9:21) - a priest of the sons of Immer. In Ezra 10:21 the Russian source gives the form Jehiel.

Jeremai

(God is high, the Most High) (Ezra 10:33) - a son of Hashum who, at Ezra's exhortation, separated from his foreign wife.

Jeremiah

(exalted, exalted by God) - the name of several persons mentioned in the Old Testament:

Jeremiah the Prophet

(Jer 1:1; Matt 2:17; 16:14 and elsewhere) - the second of the so-called major prophets, son of Hilkiah the priest of Anathoth. Jeremiah's prophetic ministry embraced the darkest period of Judean history. He was called to it in early youth, at the age of fifteen according to the source, in the thirteenth year of Josiah, king of Judah, and continued under Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah for nearly forty-five years. He probably lived chiefly in the city of his birth, Anathoth, for Jeremiah 11:21 speaks of the men of Anathoth as seeking the prophet's life.

Yet because that city, known in the source's day as Anata, lay only three miles from Jerusalem, the Jerusalem temple was undoubtedly the place where the voice of God's prophet was heard most often. He proclaimed God's word in the temple, at the city gates, in the king's house, in public squares, and in private dwellings, striving with all his strength to avert the storm about to break over a people obstinate in sin (Jer 2-6). 'Rising early' (Jer 25:3), he preached the word of God and thereby brought upon himself daily reproach and derision (Jer 20:8).

His own family forsook him (12:6), his fellow citizens persecuted him with hatred (11:21), and they mocked him, asking, 'Where is the word of the LORD? let it come now' (17:15). Nor was he spared profound inward sorrow. The lawlessness around him crushed him (12:1-2); he heard people watching for his fall and threatening, 'Peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him' (20:10); at times doubt assailed him, and he felt that his ministry had made him an object of ridicule and mockery (20:7).

Jeremiel

- one of the archangels. See 2 Esdras 4:36 and Archangel.

Jeremoth

(heights) - the name of five persons:

Jeremoth.

See (a) 2 Esdras 9:27; (b) 2 Esdras 9:30. In Ezra 10:20 and 29 the corresponding forms are Jeremoth and Jeramoth.

Jeriah

(fear of the LORD) (1 Chr 23:19) - a Levite descended from Kohath and head of the Hebronites.

Jeribai Jaribi

(adversary) (1 Chr 11:46) - one of David's valiant warriors.

Jericho

(pronounced Yericho in Hebrew) - the renowned city lying within the territory of Benjamin. The usual meaning of the word is fragrant or sweet-smelling, but some interpreters understand it as month or moon, which the founders of Jericho may have worshiped. Jericho is first mentioned in the Bible in Numbers 22:1: 'And the children of Israel set forward, and pitched in the plains of Moab on this side Jordan by Jericho,' words repeated with slight changes eight or nine times in Numbers.

Mount Nebo in Moab and the summit of Pisgah are likewise described as lying opposite Jericho (Deut 32:49; 34:1). Deuteronomy 34:3 shows that Jericho was called the city of palm trees, a name also found in Judges 1:16 and 3:13, though perhaps not of the same place in both passages. Fuerst regarded the first Judges passage as referring to a known locality in the Sinai Peninsula; others identified it with En-gedi. He referred the second directly to Jericho, which was still called the city of palm trees in the days of Ahaz (2 Chr 28:15).

Jeriel

(dwelling of God) (1 Chr 7:2) - a descendant of Tola, of the tribe of Issachar.

Jerim

(1 Sam 15:3, 8) - according to the source, an Amalekite leader or commander killed during Saul's war with the Amalekites.

Jerimoth

(elevation, height) - the name of several persons:

Jerioth

(tent curtains) (1 Chr 2:18) - according to the Hebrew and Septuagint texts, one of Caleb's wives; according to the Vulgate, Caleb's daughter by Azubah.

Jermas

(2 Esdras 9:12) - an Israelite in Ezra's days who had married a foreign woman. In Ezra 10:25 the name is Ramiah.

Jeroboam

(the people increase) - the name of two kings of Israel:

Jeroham

(beloved) - the name of the following persons:

Jerubbaal Jerobaal

(adversary of Baal) (Judg 6:32) - a surname given to the judge Gideon after he destroyed Baal's altar. The source points to a variant form in 2 Samuel 11:21. See Gideon.

Jeruel Jeriel

(fear of God) (2 Chr 20:16) - a wilderness, probably between Tekoa and En-gedi, entirely barren except for scattered shrubs and showing no trace of ever having been cultivated. In the source's day it was called Wadi el-Ar, and Jeruel appears to have been at its northern end.

Jerusalem

(foundation, or dwelling, of peace) - this world-renowned city, the most ancient and celebrated city of the Promised Land, was called Jebus in antiquity (Josh 18:28) after Jebus, progenitor of the Jebusites. It is thought, however, that its antiquity reaches even to Abraham's time, identifying it with Salem, where Melchizedek was king and high priest in Abraham's days. David conquered Jebus from the Jebusites, made it the metropolis of his kingdom, and built northwest of the old city a fortress, or new city, called Jerusalem.

Thus Jerusalem became the capital of Judah. The more recent investigations of Palestine conducted down to the source's day cast much light upon Jerusalem and the other places of the so-called Holy Land.

Jerusalem Temple

—the tabernacle, Israel’s portable sanctuary before Solomon, was made according to the pattern shown by God at Sinai (Exod. 25:9, 40). The Jerusalem Temple followed the tabernacle’s fundamental arrangement while expanding it into a permanent complex. The following description distinguishes the Temples of Solomon, Zerubbabel, and Herod.

Jerusalem, New and Heavenly

(Rev 21:2) - an expression used allegorically for the heavenly Jerusalem, the kingdom of heaven, and the kingdom of the saints in heaven (Rev 3:12). In a figurative sense Jerusalem sometimes also signifies the Church of God in general, both Old Testament and Christian.

Jerusha Jerusa

(possession) (2 Kgs 15:33; 2 Chr 27:1) - daughter of Zadok, wife of Uzziah king of Judah, and mother of King Jotham.

Jeshaiah

(salvation of the LORD) - the name of two persons:

Jeshanah Jesyna

(ancient) (2 Chr 13:19) - one of Jeroboam's cities taken by Abijah. Because it is mentioned with Bethel, it is thought to have stood nearby, perhaps at the source's modern village of El-Sanim, two miles west of Bethel.

Jesharelah Iseriel

(righteousness of God) (1 Chr 25:14) - one of Asaph's sons who, together with his sons and brethren, received the seventh lot in the order of temple service. In verse 2 the name is Asarelah.

Jeshebeab Jesbaal

(father's dwelling) (1 Chr 24:13) - one of the priests in David's reign.

Jesher Jasar

(uprightness) (1 Chr 2:18) - a son of Caleb by his wife Azubah.

Jeshimon

(wilderness) (Num 21:20; 23:28) - a desert region by the Dead Sea. The summits of Pisgah and Peor are described in Numbers as facing the wilderness, evidently the Jeshimon east of the Dead Sea. In Deuteronomy 32:10, wilderness refers to the Sinai Peninsula and is called a waste and howling wilderness. In 1 Samuel 23:19, Jeshimon apparently means the hilly desert opposite the wilderness of Judah, west of the Dead Sea.

Jeshishai Jesai

(gray-haired) (1 Chr 5:14) - a Gadite named in a genealogical list.

Jeshohaiah Jasuia

(humbled by God) (1 Chr 4:36-43) - a Simeonite and chief in his tribe. He took part in the raid of his fellow tribesmen upon the Hamites of Gerar and the Amalekites during Hezekiah's reign.

Jeshua

(God is Savior) - the name of several persons and places:

Jesiah

(1 Chr 12:6) - a Korahite, a brave and warlike man who joined David at Ziklag with the others.

Jesiah

(2 Esdras 8:33) - a son of Jeselus. In 1 Esdras 8:1 the source gives the form Jeshaiah.

Jesimiel Ismael

(appointed by God) (1 Chr 4:36) - a Simeonite who lived during the reign of Hezekiah.

Jesse

(the LORD exists) (Ruth 4:17) - son of Obed and father of David. He lived in Bethlehem and was already advanced in age, with a large family, when his youngest son David was called by God through the prophet Samuel to be king (1 Sam 16:10-11; 17:12). During Saul's persecution of David, Jesse and the rest of his household were often endangered. First Samuel 22:1-4 shows that his entire family first joined David in the cave of Adullam and afterward lived with the king of Moab. Scripture says no more of him, and he apparently had died before David's solemn accession to the throne. Jesse's name occurs in the genealogies of the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 1:5-6 and Luke 3:32.

Jesus

- the Greek form of the Hebrew name Jeshua, shortened from Jehoshua, meaning the help of the LORD, or Savior. The name often occurs among the Hebrews and is applied in Scripture to various persons, but above all to the Lord Jesus Christ, the author of our salvation. God appointed this name for the divine Child through the angel's message to Joseph in a dream: 'She shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins' (Matt 1:21). See Christ.

Jesus Son of Sirach

(Sir 50:27 in common English numbering) - the name applied to two persons: the author of the well-known sacred book and, probably, the man who translated it into Greek. The first lived in Jerusalem, apparently in the time of Simon the Just, nearly three hundred years before Christ. He wrote his book in Hebrew, but history preserves no details of his life. From the book itself we learn that while still young he asked God for wisdom and sought her with all his heart: 'I bowed down mine ear, and received her, and gat much learning.… I purposed to follow her, and earnestly I followed that which is good.… I laboured a little, and found for myself much rest.… I have not laboured for myself only, but for all them that seek wisdom' (Sir 51:13-27; compare 24:34 in common English numbering).

Jether

(remainder, abundance) (2 Sam 17:25) - father of Amasa by Abigail, David's sister, and thus uncle of Joab, Abishai, and Asahel, the sons of Zeruiah.

Jether

(excellence, preeminence) - the name of several persons:

Jetheth

(subjection) (Gen 36:40) - one of Esau's chiefs in the land of Edom.

Jethro Jothor

(superiority) - the priest of Midian and father-in-law of Moses. He is first mentioned in Exodus 2:18, where he is connected with Reuel and is called a Kenite elsewhere (Judg 1:16); in the following chapter and in Exodus 2:16 he is called Jethro. He was probably known by both names. The source holds that he descended from Abraham through Keturah (Gen 25:2), since he was a priest and prince of the Midianites. Moses spent the forty years of his exile with Jethro and married his daughter Zipporah.

On Jethro's advice Moses appointed judges over the people and shared the burden of government with them (Exod 18). Jethro then returned to his own land. Scripture does not mention him afterward, though it sometimes speaks of his descendants (Judg 1:16; 4:11).

Jetur

(perhaps surrounded) (Gen 25:15; 1 Chr 1:31) - a son of Ishmael. His name was also given to his descendants (1 Chr 5:19), whom Greeks and Romans called Itureans. Their country was known as Iturea; the source identifies it with Jedur, south of Damascus.

Jeuel

(God is destroyer) - the name of two persons:

Jeush

(hidden by God) (Gen 36:5) - a son of Esau by Oholibamah and chief of an Edomite clan.

Jeush

(gatherer) - the name of three persons:

Jeush

(collector) - the name of two persons:

Jeuz Jebus

(counselor) (1 Chr 8:10) - a Benjamite, son of Shaharaim, born in Moab, and a head of his ancestral house.

Jezaniah

(heard by God) - the name of the following persons:

Jezebel

(a name of Phoenician origin) (1 Kgs 16:31; 18:4; 2 Kgs 9:37) - daughter of Ethbaal, king of Sidon, wife of Ahab, the seventh king of Israel. Ahab's marriage to Jezebel marked the beginning of the fall of the kingdom of Israel, and Jezebel's harmful influence spread even to the kingdom of Judah through her daughter Athaliah. She immediately introduced into Israel the worship of the Phoenician deity Baal, the sun god, which her credulous and impious husband readily accepted and permitted.

Jezebel then exerted every effort to destroy all God's prophets, although she did not achieve her evil purpose, for Obadiah, governor of Ahab's house, hid one hundred prophets of the LORD in caves and fed them with bread and water (1 Kgs 18:1-4). On the other hand, at her own expense she maintained 450 priests of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah, called prophets of the groves (v. 19). In all Israel only seven thousand men remained who had not bowed the knee to Baal (1 Kgs 19:18).

She then threatened Elijah with death in revenge for his slaughter of her false prophets at the brook Kishon. But this corrupt woman appears before us most vividly in the affair between Ahab and Naboth concerning Naboth's vineyard. After Naboth's murder, Kings says little of Jezebel, although she outlived her husband and two of his successors, Ahaziah and Joram. Yet Jehu's bitter answer to Joram's question, 'Is it peace, Jehu?' shows plainly what manner of life she continued to lead: 'What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many?' (2 Kgs 9:22).

Jehu then shot Joram with an arrow and went to Jezreel. Hearing of this, Jezebel painted her face, according to an Eastern custom, adorned her head, and looked from a palace window as Jehu entered the gate, asking, 'Had Zimri peace, who slew his master?' Jehu ordered that she be thrown from the window; 'and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses: and he trode her under foot' (2 Kgs 9:30-33). Several hours later that day, Jehu ordered that 'this cursed woman' be found and buried, 'for she is a king's daughter'; but nothing was found of her except the skull, the feet, and the palms of the hands.

In fulfillment of Elijah's prophecy the dogs ate her body, and 'the carcase of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel,' the sacred writer remarks (2 Kgs 9:37). The very name Jezebel became synonymous with every kind of impiety and corruption. It is used in this sense in Revelation 2:20, in the Lord's words to the angel of the church in Thyatira; whether a particular person or some sect, such as the Nicolaitans, is meant there is unknown.

Jezer

(father of help) (Num 26:29-30) - one of Gilead's sons, a descendant of Manasseh.

Jezer

(formed) (Gen 46:24) - Naphtali's third son, who went to Egypt with his grandfather Jacob and became progenitor of the Jezerite clan.

Jeziah

(2 Esdras 9:26) - one of the Israelites, of the sons of Parosh. In Ezra 10:25 the name is Izziah.

Jeziel

:

Jeziel

(assembly of God) (1 Chr 12:3) - a Benjamite who joined David at Ziklag. He was probably a son of Azmaveth of Bahurim.

Jezreel

(planted by God):

Jezreel

(2 Esdras 9:27) - one of the sons of Elam, an Israelite. In Ezra 10:26 the name is Jehiel.

Jezreel Valley.

See Esdraelon.

Jezreel.

See Izreel.

Jidlaph Melcha Nachor

(shedding tears) (Gen 22:22)—son of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, by his wife Milcah.

Jili

(2 Esdras 5:33) - one of the sons of Solomon's servants. Ezra 2:56 and Nehemiah 7:58 have the form Jaala.

Jiphtah

(opened) (Josh 15:43) - a city in the tribe of Judah.

Jiphthah-el

(valley of God, that is, the valley that God opened) (Josh 19:14, 27) - a valley lying on the boundary between the tribes of Zebulun and Asher. In Robinson's opinion, Jiphthah-el was identical with Josephus's Jotapata, and traces of the name still remained in Jefat among the mountains of Galilee. It would therefore be none other than the great present-day Wadi Abilin, which begins in the mountains near Jefat and extends westward.

Joab

(the LORD is Father) (2 Sam 2:18) - one of David's three nephews and his commander (1 Chr 2:16; 11:6). Joab first appears in the Books of Kings during David's reign at Hebron. At the head of David's servants he met Abner, who had crossed the Jordan with the army from Mahanaim, Ish-bosheth's residence, and defeated him near Gibeon. Abner fled and was pursued by Asahel. Although Asahel was renowned for speed, Abner killed him in self-defense. Abner's words to Asahel, 'Turn thee aside from following me: wherefore should I smite thee to the ground? how then should I hold up my face to Joab thy brother?' (2 Sam 2:22), show that irreconcilable enmity had not yet arisen between Abner and Joab.

Joabdi

(2 Esdras 9:27) - one of the Israelites in Ezra's days. Ezra 10:26 has Abdi.

Joadan

(2 Esdras 9:19) - one of the priests in Ezra's days. Ezra 10:18 reads Jedaiah.

Joah

(God is brother) - the name of the following persons:

Joah

(2 Sam 21:11) - the source identifies him as the father of Dan, one of the descendants of the giants whose deed occasioned the exposure of the bodies of Saul's sons by the Gibeonites; David afterward buried their bones in the tomb of Kish. The printed identification is textually uncertain.

Joanna

(gift of God) (Luke 8:3; 24:10) - the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward. Together with other women she ministered to the Lord from her possessions during His earthly life. She was also among the myrrh-bearing women who came early to the Savior's tomb to anoint His body.

Joannan

(Luke 3:27) - son of Rhesa and father of Judah, named in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Joash Joas

(God is support) - the name of the following persons:

Joash Joas

(God is helper) - the name of two persons:

Job

(oppressed, or persecuted with hostility) - the name of two persons:

Jobab

(cry, wailing) - the name of the following persons:

Jochebed Jochabed

(the glory of the LORD) - mother of Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, daughter of Levi, and wife of Amram. She was born in Egypt (Num 26:59). Since Amram was a son of Kohath, she was her husband's aunt. Such a marriage was later forbidden by the Mosaic Law (Lev 18:12), but Moses does not conceal the fact. Scripture's few particulars nevertheless show her maternal faith and care, especially in preserving the infant Moses (Exod 2:1-10; 6:20).

Jod

(2 Esdras 5:56) - one of the Levites under Ezra. First Esdras 3:9 has Judah.

Joed Joad

(witness of the LORD) (Neh 11:7) - a Benjamite, ancestor of Sallu, whose grandson was head of his ancestral house and lived in Jerusalem in Nehemiah's days after the return from exile.

Joel

(the LORD is God) - the name of two persons:

Joel

(the LORD is God) - the name of the following fourteen persons:

Joelah Jelia

(God is helper) (1 Chr 12:7) - son of Jeroham of Gedor, a Benjamite who went over to David at Ziklag.

Joezer Jozara

(help of the LORD, or the LORD is help) (1 Chr 12:6) - a Korhite who joined David at Ziklag.

Jogbehah

(exalted) (Num 32:35; Judg 8:11) - a city of Gad beyond the Jordan. It was one of the towns built or restored by a people who once possessed it. It is placed near Nobah, northwest of Rabbah of the Ammonites.

Jogli Egli

(led into exile) (Num 34:22) - father of Bukki, prince of Dan, who took part under Moses in dividing the Promised Land among the tribes.

Joha

(the LORD gives life) - the name of two persons:

Johanan

(the LORD is gracious and good) - the name of the following persons:

Johanan

(the LORD is gracious) - the name of the following persons:

John

(grace of God) - the name of various persons mentioned in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments:

John the Apostle and Evangelist

(Matt 4:21) - one of the Lord's twelve chosen disciples and the writer of the fourth Gospel, three Epistles, and Revelation. His father was Zebedee, a fisherman of Galilee; his mother is believed, from comparison of Matthew 27:56 and Mark 15:40-41, to have been Salome, one of the women who ministered to the Lord from their possessions. He was also the brother of James the apostle. Scripture says nothing of the dates of his birth and death.

John the Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord

(Matt 3:1; Mark 1:4; Luke 1:60-63; John 1:6) - son of the aged priest Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth (Luke 1:13), born six months before the Lord Jesus. His birth and ministry were foretold by the angel Gabriel (Luke 1:5-15), Isaiah (40:3), and Malachi (4:5). The circumstances before and after his birth are related in detail in Luke 1:1-80.

Joiada

(known by God) - the name of the following persons:

Joiarib

(whom the LORD defends) (1 Chr 9:10; 24:7) - head of one of the twenty-four priestly courses into which David divided the priests, and ancestor of the famous Maccabean family. Two of his descendants returned from Babylon with Nehemiah (Neh 11:10).

Joiarib

(whom the LORD defends) - the name of the following persons:

Joiarib

(avenger) - the name of the following persons:

Jokdeam Aricam

(wrath of the people) (Josh 15:56) - a town in Judah's hill country, mentioned with Maon, Carmel, and Ziph. It probably lay not far from those towns, southeast of Hebron.

Jokim Joakim

(whom God restores) (1 Chr 4:22-23) - one of the sons of Shelah, grandson of Judah. He and his brothers were potters who lived near gardens and enclosures and worked for the king's court.

Jokmeam

(place of the people's assembly) (1 Kgs 4:12; 1 Chr 6:68) - a city of Ephraim given to the Levites with its surrounding lands. Its location had not been identified in the source's day.

Jokneam

(possession of the people) (Josh 12:22) - a city in Zebulun near Mount Carmel, therefore called Jokneam of Carmel. It had a king in Joshua's time and was evidently near the Kishon River. The source identifies it with Tell Qaimun on Carmel's southeastern slope.

Jokshan

(fowler) (Gen 25:2) - Abraham's son by Keturah, father of Sheba and Dedan and ancestor of the Sabeans and Dedanites (Job 6:19).

Joktan

(small) (Gen 10:25) - son of Eber, whose descendants settled in southern Arabia. Arabs regarded him as the father of all the ancient Arabian tribes.

Joktheel

(subdued or enslaved by God) - the name of two places:

Jonadab

(the LORD is bountiful) - the name of two persons:

Jonah

(dove) - the name of the following persons:

Jonah the Prophet

(2 Kgs 14:25; Matt 12:39; Luke 11:29-30) - a Hebrew prophet who evidently lived during the reign of Jeroboam son of Joash, king of Israel. He is called the son of Amittai of Gath-hepher and therefore lived in Zebulun and undoubtedly belonged to that tribe. Jonah foretold Israel's restoration and victories under Jeroboam (2 Kgs 14:25-27), whose accession the source places about 825 BC. A Jewish tradition identifies Jonah with the son of the widow of Zarephath whom Elijah miraculously raised (1 Kgs 17:8-24), but the source rightly notes that this tradition lacks sufficient foundation.

Jonan

- the name of two persons:

Jonathan

(gift of God), equivalent in meaning to the Greek name Theodore - the name of various persons mentioned in the sacred books of the Old Testament:

Jonav

(2 Esdras 8:32) - an Israelite in Ezra's days. Ezra 8:6 reads Jonathan.

Joppa

(beautiful) (Josh 19:46; Jonah 1:3) - now called Jaffa, one of the oldest cities of Asia, built upon a sandy height and originally allotted to Dan. It stands on the northwestern shore of the Mediterranean between Caesarea and Gaza, thirty-seven English miles from Jerusalem. Already in Solomon's reign it served as Jerusalem's harbor, washed by the sea on three sides. It remained the chief seaport of Judea in the source's day and had once possessed great commercial importance (2 Chr 2:16; Ezra 3:7; Jonah 1:3).

Joppa

(2 Chron. 2:16; 1 Esd. 3:7)—see Joppa.

Jorah Jora

(early rain) (Ezra 2:18) - an Israelite whose ancestors returned from Babylon to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel. Nehemiah 7:24 reads Hariph, and 2 Esdras 5:16 has Arsiphurith.

Jorai Joachan

- a Gadite named in the genealogy of 1 Chronicles 5:13.

Joram

(God is exalted) - the name of the following persons:

Jordan

(flowing or descending) (Gen 13:10; Josh 1:2; Matt 3:5; Mark 1:5, 9; Luke 3:3; John 1:28 and elsewhere) - the celebrated biblical river, sacred to all Christians, which runs along the length of Palestine and divides it into two parts. It is first mentioned in Genesis 13:10.

Jordan country

- this expression occurs in Psalm 42:6. It evidently points to the events mentioned in 2 Samuel 17:22, 26; if so, it should be understood as the country east of the Jordan, otherwise called the land of Gilead.

Jordan Valley

- the name applied in Genesis 13:10-11 to the lower part of the Jordan valley, which, in the words of that book, was watered like

Jorib

(2 Esdras 9:19) - one of the priests in Ezra's days. Ezra 10:18 reads Joiarib.

Joribus

(2 Esdras 8:43) - one of the leading Jews in Babylon in Ezra's days. Ezra 8:16 reads Joiarib.

Jorim

(Luke 3:29) - son of Matthat, of David's line and one of the ancestors of the Lord Jesus named in Luke's genealogy.

Jorkeam Jeclan

(extension of the people) (1 Chr 2:44) - in the opinion of some, a town in Judah, but more probably one of Caleb's descendants. Jerome describes a locality under the name Jercaam.

Josabdus Josabad

(2 Esdras 8:62) - a son of Jeshua, one of the Levites. Ezra 8:33 reads Jozabad.

Josaphias

(2 Esdras 8:36) - father of Assalimoth, one of the leaders in Ezra's days. Ezra 8:10 reads Josiphiah.

Joseph

(increase or addition) - the name of several persons:

Joses

- the name of two persons:

Joshaviah Josia Ellaam

(1 Chr 12:6; 27:2) - one of the courageous Korahites who joined David at Ziklag. The latter citation names a man as the son of Zabdiel.

Joshaviah Josia Ellaam

(God is self-sufficient) (1 Chr 11:46) - one of David's chief warriors, son of Elnaam.

Joshbekashah

(1 Chr 25:4, 24) - a son of Heman appointed to the service of song and music.

Josheb-basshebeth Jebosthe Chananite

(dwelling in rest) (2 Sam 23:8) - a Tachmonite, one of David's three mighty men. According to 2 Samuel, he lifted up his spear against eight hundred men and slew them at one time.

Joshua Son of Nun

(Josh 1:1), called Moses' minister in Exodus 24:13 because he assisted him in his ministry. His original name was Hoshea (Num 13:8, 16). Joshua first appears when the Israelites prepared to fight Amalek at Rephidim and Moses entrusted him with command of Israel's army (Exod 17:9). The source reckons him forty-four years old at the time, although Exodus 33:11 calls him a young man. Moses' discerning eye soon recognized in Joshua the qualities required in the future leader of the whole people.

After the victory over Amalek he was one of the twelve spies sent to inspect Canaan (Num 13:17-18) and one of the two who gave Israel a favorable report (Num 14:6). At the close of Israel's forty-year wandering, Joshua was among the few who had survived that period. At God's command Moses appointed him leader of the people (Num 27:18) and solemnly installed him in that office (Deut 31:14, 23).

Joshviah

(1 Chr 4:35) - a descendant of Simeon and father of Jehu in Hezekiah's reign.

Josiah

(God supports or protects) - the name of the following persons:

Josiphiah

(increased by God) (Ezra 8:10) - father of Shelomith, who returned from captivity with Ezra together with 160 of his kinsmen. Second Esdras 8:36 reads Josaphias.

Jotbah Jeteba

(“goodness”) (2 Kings 21:19)—the home of Meshullemeth daughter of Haruz, mother of King Amon of Judah. Its location is unknown.

Jotbathah Etebatha

(goodness or pleasantness) (Num 33:33) - an Israelite encampment in the wilderness after Hor-haggidgad. Deuteronomy 10:7 calls it 'a land of rivers of waters.'

Jotham

(God is perfect, blameless) (2 Kgs 15:30, 32-38) - son and successor of Azariah, commonly called Uzziah, king of Judah. Although he is thought to have reigned only sixteen years, royal authority had already been in his hands for several years because his father Azariah suffered from leprosy (2 Kgs 15:5). The principal acts of his pious reign, related in 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles, were victories over the Ammonites and efforts to strengthen Jerusalem and fortify Judah. Isaiah, Hosea, and Micah prophesied during his reign. He appears in the genealogy of the Lord (Matt 1:9).

Jotham

(the LORD is perfect) - the name of the following persons:

Journey

. The Bible mentions many journeys but relatively few sea voyages (Ps. 107:23; 104:26). Land travel in the East was much more difficult than in Europe in the source’s day, partly for lack of protection against predators and robbers and partly for lack of good roads, inns, and lodging houses. Travelers therefore moved in large, armed caravans. In wilderness travel they used a guide familiar with the country (Num. 10:31).

Joy

(1 Pet. 1:8)—delight arising from a good received or confidently hoped for. Christian joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:22) and can coexist with grief, persecution, and longing because its deepest object is God and the salvation revealed in Christ. Peter speaks of believers who, though they do not yet see Christ, rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy. Biblical joy is therefore more than emotional excitement: it is grateful participation in God’s goodness and promised kingdom.

Jozabad

(the LORD has given) - the name of the following ten men:

Jozachar

(God remembers) (2 Kgs 12:20-21) - one of the conspirators who killed King Joash and was afterward put to death by Amaziah for his crime. Second Chronicles 24:26 has Zabad in place of Jozachar.

Jozadak Josedec

(the LORD is righteous) (1 Chr 6:14 and elsewhere) - son of the high priest Seraiah, who was put to death by Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah during Zedekiah's reign (2 Kgs 25:18, 21). Jozadak himself was never high priest, but lived and probably died in the Babylonian captivity. His son Jeshua, however, led the Jews with Zerubbabel when they returned from captivity (Hag 1:1, 12, 14; 2:2, 4), helped build the altar (Ezra 3:2) and restore the Jerusalem temple (v. 8), and became high priest (Zech 6:11).

Jubal

(prolonged sound, horn, or trumpet) (Gen 4:21) - son of Lamech by Adah and inventor of the harp and pipe, that is, stringed and wind instruments.

Jubilee

(“a prolonged trumpet blast”) (Lev. 25:8-17; Num. 36:4)—the fiftieth year in Israel’s law. As every seventh year was a sabbatical year, so the year following seven sabbatical cycles—seven times seven years—was consecrated as the Jubilee. On the Day of Atonement a trumpet was to sound throughout the land, liberty was to be proclaimed to all its inhabitants, each person was to return to his ancestral property and clan, and ordinary sowing, reaping, and harvesting were to cease. The people were to eat what the land produced of itself (Lev. 25:8-12).

Jucal (Jehucal)

(Jer. 38:1)—a son of Shelemiah and one of King Zedekiah’s officials. He and other officials heard Jeremiah proclaim that Jerusalem would fall to the king of Babylon: those who remained in the city would die by sword, famine, and pestilence, while those who went out to the Chaldeans would live. Because Zedekiah, installed by Nebuchadnezzar, was attempting resistance, the officials charged that Jeremiah was weakening the hands of the soldiers and seeking the people’s harm rather than welfare. The king yielded to them, and Jeremiah was lowered into the cistern of Malchiah in the court of the guard (Jer. 38:1-6). See Jeremiah and Zedekiah.

Judah

(praise of the LORD, or Praise the LORD) - the name of several persons:

Jude the Apostle

(Luke 6:16; John 14:22; Jude 1:1), otherwise called Thaddaeus, one of the Lord's brothers according to the flesh and brother of the holy apostle James the Less. Jude's name occurs only once in the Gospel narrative, when during the Lord's final discourse he asked, 'Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?' (John 14:22). Scripture says very little else about him. According to tradition, he first preached in Judea, Galilee, Samaria, and Idumea, then in Arabia, Syria, and Mesopotamia, and finally in Persia and Armenia. He died a martyr, first being hung upon a tree and then pierced with arrows. His commemorations are June 19 and 30.

Judea

(Josh 15:1 and elsewhere) - the word is sometimes used in the broadest sense for all Palestine, especially after the Jews returned from captivity; properly, however, Judea means only the southern part of Palestine. About the time of Jesus Christ, the Promised Land was divided into four principal regions: Judea, Samaria, Galilee, and Perea beyond the Jordan. Judea proper included the territories of Judah, Benjamin, Simeon, Dan, and part of Ephraim. Its boundaries were the mountains of Ephraim and Samaria on the north, Arabia and the wilderness of Zin, Wadi Murreh, on the south, the Mediterranean Sea on the west, and the Dead Sea and Jordan River on the east. According to Josephus, it also included the western coastal lands as far as Ptolemais. See Palestine for further details.

Judges of Israel

(Acts 13:20)—leaders raised up by God after Joshua to deliver and govern Israel. The encyclopedia’s traditional list includes Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah and Barak, Gideon, Tola, Jair, Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, Abdon, Samson, Eli, and Samuel. Eli and Samuel stand at the close of the broader period but are not narrated as judges in the Book of Judges itself. Paul’s “about four hundred and fifty years” in Acts 13:20 is punctuated differently among ancient manuscripts and translations, so it should not be made the basis of an exact chronology.

Judgment, or Judicial Procedure among the Israelites

—the administration of justice in biblical Israel. In the patriarchal household the father exercised broad authority over the family (compare Gen. 38:24). After the exodus Moses initially judged the people alone. At Jethro’s counsel he appointed trustworthy, God-fearing men over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens to decide ordinary cases, while difficult matters were brought to Moses (Exod. 18:13–26). This was a distribution of responsibility, not a modern hierarchy of appellate courts.

Judith

(Judith 8:1) - a woman of the tribe of Simeon, daughter of Merari of Bethulia. Her story is contained in the sixteen-chapter canonical Old Testament book known as the Book of Judith. The source dates her heroic deliverance of Jerusalem and Judea from the Babylonian commander Holofernes to Nebuchadnezzar's eighteenth year and the high priesthood of Joiakim, about 589 BC. Holofernes besieged Bethulia, leaving it without bread and water. Judith, a wealthy and God-fearing widow, offered to save her distressed countrymen.

Julia

(Rom. 16:15)—a Christian in Rome whom Paul greets together with Philologus, Nereus and his sister, Olympas, and all the saints with them.

Julius

(Acts 27:1, 3)—a centurion of the Augustan Cohort who received Paul and other prisoners for transport to Italy. Paul had been arrested in Jerusalem after opponents from Asia stirred up a crowd in the Temple. A Roman commander rescued him, and after learning of a plot by more than forty men to kill him, sent him under armed guard to Caesarea. Felix kept Paul imprisoned for two years, although the accusations did not warrant death, and left him in custody for his successor Porcius Festus.

Festus, King Agrippa, Bernice, and those assembled with them agreed that Paul had done nothing deserving death or imprisonment, but because he had appealed to Caesar he had to be sent to Rome (Acts 21–26).

Junia

(Rom. 16:7)—a Christian greeted with Andronicus. Paul calls them his kinspeople and fellow prisoners, says that they were prominent among the apostles—or well known to the apostles—and notes that they were in Christ before him. Junia is most naturally read as a woman’s name, though some later interpreters took the name as masculine; the Greek phrase about the apostles also permits more than one interpretation.

Juniper

(Job 30:4, Is. 19:4 [as cited], 1 Chron. 19:4), in Slavonic: smerchie. This is a well-known evergreen shrub of the cypress family, growing almost throughout Europe and Asia, chiefly in Arabia, in the mountains, valleys, and plains. Under the shade of a juniper bush the prophet Elijah rested on his way to Horeb (1 Kings 19:4). In the Book of Job, juniper berries are presented as the food of the poorest people: “Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat,” it is said there (Job 30:4).

The coals of juniper wood retain their heat unusually long and keep up warmth; in Cairo they are sold in the market as merchandise. With the burning coal of this plant (broom) the psalmist compares the deceitful tongue of a man (Ps. 120:4).

Jupiter; Zeus

(Acts 14:12)—the chief deity of ancient Greek and Roman religion: Zeus to the Greeks and Jupiter to the Romans. Myth made him a son of Cronus or Saturn and Rhea, ruler of sky and earth, thunder and lightning, winds and rain. Poseidon or Neptune received the sea, Hades or Pluto the underworld, while Zeus ruled the heavens from Olympus. Temples and altars were dedicated to him, and the Olympic games were celebrated in his honor. He was commonly portrayed enthroned as a king with the thunderbolt; the eagle was sacred to him.

Jushab-hesed Asadia Asobed

(return of mercy) (1 Chr 3:20) - one of Zerubbabel's sons, of David's line. See Zerubbabel.

Justice; Righteousness of God

(Ps. 89:14)—an essential perfection of God’s being and rule. God is wholly true, just, and faithful in his acts, commandments, judgments, mercy, and governance of creation: “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before you.” Divine justice is not arbitrary force. In Scripture it includes setting wrongs right, defending the oppressed, judging evil, keeping covenant, and saving sinners in a manner consistent with God’s holiness and love.

Justus

(righteous) - the name of the following persons:

Juttah

(Josh. 15:55; 21:16)—a town in the hill country of Judah assigned to the priests. It is commonly identified with the village of Yatta, south of Hebron. A later tradition placed the home of Zechariah and Elizabeth, and therefore Mary’s visit to Elizabeth, in this hill country (Luke 1:39-40), but Scripture does not name Juttah as that village.