Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible Online

I. Name Daniel chap. 4 (vv 10, 14, 20) is the only passage in the Hebrew Bible where the noun עיר is commonly understood to refer to a heavenly being. Nebuchadnezzar reports that he saw in his dream “a watcher and holy one come down from heaven”. The meaning of ‘watcher’ is assured by the juxtaposition with ‘holy one’ and the statement that he came down from heaven. The word is simply transliterated in Theodotion. The Old Greek uses the single word ἄγγελος (Angel) in place of “watcher and holy one”. Both Aquila and Symmachus read ἐγρήγορος, wakeful one or watcher, presumably from the S…

I. Name The swearing formula ḥy drk bʾr šbʿ (“As the way of Beersheba lives”, RSV), occurring in Am. 8.14, has caused problems to the interpreters ever since antiquity (Barstad 1984:191–201; Olyan 1991:121–127). The main problem with this text concerns the rendering of drk with ‘way’, ‘road’. Even if drk may be translated also with ‘manner’ or ‘custom’, both the use of the verb ‘to swear’ + ḥy, as well as the context, indicates strongly that we have a reference to some kind of deity in this text. II. Identity In the world of the Bible, roads—and more especially those used for pilg…