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Emmaus, in the Bible

(Encyclopedia)Emmaus ĕmāˈəs [key], in the Bible. 1 Place, outside Jerusalem, where Cleopas and another disciple met the risen Christ. 2 Place, where Judas Maccabeus defeated Gorgias. It is now called Imwas (Wes...

disarmament, nuclear

(Encyclopedia)disarmament, nuclear, the reduction and limitation of the various nuclear weapons in the military forces of the world's nations. The atomic bombs dropped (1945) on Japan by the United States in World ...

Israel, in the Bible

(Encyclopedia)Israel ĭzˈrēəl, ĭzˈrāəl [key] [as understood by Hebrews,=he strives with God], according to the book of Genesis, name given to Jacob as eponymous ancestor of the Hebrews, the chosen people of ...

Ammon, in the Bible

(Encyclopedia)Ammon ămˈən [key], in the Bible, people living E of the Dead Sea. Their capital was Rabbath-Ammon, the present-day Amman (Jordan). Their god was Milcom, to whom Solomon built an altar. A Semitic pe...

Eve, in the Bible

(Encyclopedia)Eve [Heb.,=life], in the Bible, the first woman, wife of Adam and the mother of Cain, Abel, and Seth. Fashioned from Adam's rib, she was beguiled by the serpent into eating the forbidden fruit of the ...

Hadad, in the Bible

(Encyclopedia)Hadad hāˈdăd [key], in the Bible. 1 Son of Ishmael. An alternate form is Hadar. 2 King of Edom. 3 Last king of Edom. Hadar is an alternate form. 4 Scion of the kings of Edom, who escaped Joab's mas...

Zoar, in the Bible

(Encyclopedia)Zoar bēˈlə [key], it was the only one of the Cities of the Plain (see Sodom) to escape destruction. Lot and his daughters took refuge here. It is probably now submerged in the southern end of the D...

Joanna, in the Bible

(Encyclopedia)Joanna, in the New Testament. 1 Wife of Herod's steward Chuza. She was a follower of Jesus and was one who found the tomb empty. 2 Ancestor of St. Joseph. ...

Amon, in the Bible

(Encyclopedia)Amon āˈmŏn [key] [Heb.,=trustworthy]. 1 King of Judah (642–640 b.c.), son and successor of Manasseh. According to Chronicles, he was inattentive to the worship of God, and the accounts accordingl...

Beria, Lavrenti Pavlovich

(Encyclopedia)Beria, Lavrenti Pavlovich ləvrĕnˈtyē pävˈləvĭch bâˈrēə [key], 1899–1953, Soviet Communist leader, b. Georgia. He rose to prominence in the Cheka (secret police) in Georgia and the Transc...