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PREFACE

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GIVE heed to... teaching.' Perhaps the Church of Christ has never given sufficient heed to teaching since the earliest and happiest days. In our own day the importance of teaching, or, as we sometimes call it, expository preaching, has been pressed home through causes that are various yet never accidental; and it is probable that in the near future more heed will be given by the Church to teaching than has ever been given before.

As a contribution towards the furnishing of the Church for that great work, this DICTIONARY OF THE BIBLE is published. It is a Dictionary of the Old and New Testaments, together with the Old Testament Apocrypha, according to the Authorized and Revised English Versions, and with constant reference to the original tongues. Every effort has been used to make the information it contains reasonably full, trustworthy, and accessible.

As to fulness. In a Dictionary of the Bible one expects that the words occurring in the Bible, which do not explain themselves, will receive some explanation. The present Dictionary more nearly meets that expectation than any Dictionary that has hitherto been published. Articles have been written on the names of all Persons and Places, on the Antiquities and Archæology of the Bible, on its Ethnology, Geology, and Natural History, on Biblical Theology and Ethic, and even on the obsolete or archaic words occurring in the English Versions. The greater number of the articles are of small compass, for care has been exercised to exclude vague generalities as well as unaccepted idiosyncrasies; but there are many articles which deal with important and difficult subjects, and extend to considerable length. Such, for example, and to mention only one, is the article in the first volume on the Chronology of the New Testament.

As to trustworthiness. The names of the authors are appended to their articles, except where the article is very brief and of minor importance; and these names are the best guarantee that the work may be relied on. So far as could be ascertained, those authors were chosen for the various subjects who had made a special study of that subject, and might be able to speak with authority upon it. Then, in addition to the work of the Editor and his Assistant, every sheet has passed through the hands of the three distinguished scholars whose names are found on the title-page. These scholars are not responsible for errors of any kind, if such should be dis

covered in the Dictionary, but the time and care they have spent upon it may be taken as a good assurance that the work as a whole is reliable and authoritative.

As to accessibility. While all the articles have been written expressly for this work, so they have been arranged under the headings one would most naturally turn to. In a very few cases it has been found necessary to group allied subjects together. But even then, the careful system of black-lettering and cross-reference adopted, should enable the reader to find the subject wanted without delay. And so important has it seemed to the Editor that each subject should be found under its own natural title, that he has allowed a little repetition here and there (though not in identical terms) rather than distress the reader by sending him from one article to another in search of the information he desires. The Proper Names will be found under the spelling adopted in the Revised Version, and in a few very familiar instances the spelling of the Authorized Version is also given, with a cross-reference to the other. On the Proper Names generally, and particularly on the very difficult and unsettled questions of their derivation, reference may be made to the article NAMES (PROPER), which will be found in the third volume. The Hebrew, and (where it seemed to be of consequence for the identification of the name) the Greek of the Septuagint, have been given for all proper and many common names. It was found impracticable to record all the variety of spelling discovered in different manuscripts of the Septuagint; and it was considered unnecessary, in view of the great Edition now in preparation in Cambridge, and the Concordance of Proper Names about to be published at the Clarendon Press. The Abbreviations, considering the size and scope of the work, will be seen to be few and easily mastered. A list of them, together with a simple and uniform scheme of transliterating Hebrew and Arabic words, will be found on the following pages. The Maps have been specially prepared for this work by Mr. J. G. Bartholomew, F.R.G.S. The Illustrations (the drawings for which have been chiefly made in Syria by the Rev. G. M. Mackie, M.A.) are confined to subjects which cannot be easily understood without their aid.

The Editor has pleasure in recording his thanks to many friends and willing fellow-workers, including the authors of the various articles. In especial, after those whose names are given on the title-page, he desires to thank the Rev. W. SANDAY, D.D., LL.D., Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity in the University of Oxford, who has read many of the articles and given valuable assistance in other ways, and whose name might have appeared on the title-page, had not illness prevented him for some time from carrying out his intention of reading the proof-sheets as they were ready; next, his own early teacher, Dr. DONALD SHEARER, who voluntarily undertook, and has most conscientiously carried out, the verification of the passages of Scripture ; also Professor MAHAFFY of Dublin, who kindly read some articles in proof; Professor RYLE of Cambridge; Professor SALMOND of Aberdeen; Principal STEWART of St. Andrews; and Principal FAIRBAIRN and Mr. J. VERNON BARTLET, M.A. of Mansfield College, Oxford.

Messrs. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, have the sole right of publication of this DICTIONARY OF THE BIBLE in the United States and Canada.

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