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Hinnom

(Encyclopedia)Hinnom hēnōmˈ [key], valley, W and S of Jerusalem. Its ill repute in the Bible emanated from the worship there of foreign gods, including supposed child sacrifice to Molech at Tophet. In later Jewi...

Tabernacle

(Encyclopedia)Tabernacle tăbˈərnăkˌəl [key], in the Bible, the portable holy place of the Hebrews during their desert wanderings. It was a tent, like the portable tent-shrines used by ancient Semites, set up ...

sandalwood

(Encyclopedia)sandalwood, name for several fragrant tropical woods, especially for Santalum album, an evergreen partially parasitic tree either native to India or introduced there centuries ago. It is used for joss...

Pietism

(Encyclopedia)Pietism pīˈətĭzəm [key], a movement in the Lutheran Church (see Lutheranism), most influential between the latter part of the 17th cent. and the middle of the 18th. It was an effort to stir the c...

Ten Commandments

(Encyclopedia)Ten Commandments or Decalogue [Gr.,=ten words], in the Bible, the summary of divine law given by God to Moses on Mt. Sinai. They have a paramount place in the ethical systems of Judaism, Christianity,...

Ashdod

(Encyclopedia)Ashdod ăshˈdŏd, ăshdōdˈ [key] [Heb.,=stronghold], city, SW Israel, on the Mediterranean Sea. It is Israel's leading port after Haifa. Construction is Ashdod's main i...

Gibeah

(Encyclopedia)Gibeah gĭbˈēə [key] [Heb.,=hill]. 1 In the Bible, home town and capital of Saul; the present-day Tell el-Ful, the West Bank, 3 mi (4.8 km) N of Jerusalem. A fortress that may have been Saul's resi...

Gambia, The, country, Africa

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Gambia, The gămˈbēə, gämˈ– [key], officially Republic of The Gambia, republic (2015 est. pop. 1,978,000), 4,361 sq mi (11,295 sq km), W Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean on t...

Immanuel

(Encyclopedia)Immanuel or Emmanuel both: ĭmănˈyo͞oəl [key] [Heb.,=God with us], in the Book of Isaiah, name given to the child who would be a sign to Judah of her deliverance. In the Gospel of St. Matthew it i...

Uriel

(Encyclopedia)Uriel yo͞oˈrēəl [key]. 1, 2 Two descendants of Kohath. 3 Man whose daughter became mother of King Abijah of Judah. The name appears in the pseudepigrapha for an archangel. He is introduced in Milt...