Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible Online

I. Name ṣiyyîm, sg. ṣî (< צִיִּי*), is a plural derivative from the feminine noun ṣiyyâ, which appears as an adjective to ʾereṣ ‘land’ with the meaning ‘dry’ and as a noun with the meaning ‘dry land’ (cf. ṣāyôn Isa. 25.5; Isa. 32.2). The word is certainly attested only in Isa. 13.21; Isa. 34.14; and …

I. Name In the OT and NT the winds (רוחות, πνεύματα, ἄνεμοι) are either ruled as such by God personally ( Exod. 10.13 and Exod. 19; Jer. 49.36; Jer. 51.1; Hos. 13.15; Ps. 135.7) or personified as his servants (מלאכים, ἄγγελοι: Ps. 104.4; Rev. 7.1). They are four in number ( Jer. 49.36; Dan. 7.2; Rev. 7.1; cf. e.g. 1 Chr. 9.24; Dan. 8.8; Mark 13.27, where ‘the four winds’ = the points of the compass), and are conceived of as (a) winged being(s) ( 2 Sam. 22.11; Ps. 18.11; Ps. 104.3). They are addressed ( Cant. 4.16) but not venerated. The following specific winds are mentioned in the OT: the צפון or north wind (e.g. Ezek. 1.4, LXX βορέας/βορρᾶς), the קדים or east wind (e.g. Gen. 41.6, Gen. 23, Gen. 27, LXX νότος), the רוח־ים or ‘sea-wind’, which is rather a north-west wind in Egypt ( Exod. 10.19, LXX ἀπὸ θαλάσσης), but would be a west wind in Palestine, and the תימן or south wind ( Cant. 4.16, LXX νότος). Moreover, to the נגב or south and צפון as points of the compass there correspond in the LXX the Greek wind names λίψ and ἀπηλιώτης, e.g. at Gen. 13.14 and Exod. 27.11. In the NT occur: βορρᾶς…

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I. Name Wisdom, sometimes in scholarly literature referred to as ‘Lady Wisdom’ or ‘Woman Wisdom’, is the name of a biblical goddess. She figures prominently in one canonical book and several deuterocanonical writings of the OT: Prov. 1–9, Sir, Bar, and Wis. Although modern interpreters have often treated her as a literary personification, it can be argued that what later came to be considered a mere figure of speech started its career as a ‘real’ deity. Wisdom, in Heb. ḥokmâ (rarely ḥokmôt as sing. fem., Prov. 1.20; Prov. 9.1) and in Gk. sophia, is the goddess of knowledge, shrewdn…

I. Name As utilized in the biblical materials relating to the legal sphere, the ‘witness’ ( ʿēd) was a person who had firsthand knowledge concerning an event or fact and who could provide either an affirmation or a refutation of testimony presented (i.e. …

I. Name The term yiddĕʿōnî occurs 11 times in the OT, always in parallellism with ʾôb ‘ancestor, ancestral spirit, ghost’ ( Lev. 19.31; Lev. 20.6, Lev. 27; Deut. 18.11; 1 Sam. 28.3, 1 Sam. 9; 2 Kings. 21.6 // 2 Chron. 33.6; 2 Kings. 23.24; Isa. 8.19; Isa. 19.3; Spirit of the dead). It is certain that the word is a nominal form (supplemented with the afformative -ōn [ʾ *-ān] and the gentilic -î). The pattern is comparatively rare in Hebrew, though comparable forms exist in qadmônî ‘east of, earlier’, ʾadmônî ‘reddish’, ḥakmôni ‘knowledgeable’, naḥămānî ‘comforting’ and raḥa…