Dictionaries :: South

Easton's Bible Dictionary

South:

Heb. Negeb, that arid district to the south of Palestine through which lay the caravan route from Central Palestine to Egypt (Gen 12:9; 13:1,3; 46:1-6). "The Negeb comprised a considerable but irregularly-shaped tract of country, its main portion stretching from the mountains and lowlands of Judah in the north to the mountains of Azazemeh in the south, and from the Dead Sea and southern Ghoron the east to the Mediterranean on the west." In Eze 20:46 (21:1 in Heb.) three different Hebrew words are all rendered "south." (1) "Set thy face toward the south" (1Sa 23:24); (2) "Drop thy word toward the south" (Jos 15:4); (3) "Prophesy against the forest of the south field" (Deu 33:23). In (Job 37:9) the word "south" is literally "chamber," used here in the sense of treasury (Job 38:22; Psa 135:7). This verse is rendered in the Revised Version "out of the chamber of the south."

International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia

South:

south:

(1) neghebh, according BDB from [?] naghabh, meaning "to be dry," the word most often used, in the Revised Version (British and American) capitalized (South) in those places where it seems to denote a particular region, i.e. to the South of Judah.

(2) yamin, "right hand," "right." The derived meaning, "south," seems to imply an eastern posture in prayer in which the right hand is toward the South; compare Arabic yamin, "right," and yemen, "Yemen," a region in Southwestern Arabia.

(3) teman, from the same root as (2) is often used for the south; also for the south wind (Ps 78:26; So 4:16).

(4) yam, literally, "sea" (Ps 107:3).

(5) darom, etymology doubtful (De 33:23; Eze 40:24).

(6) midhbar, literally, "desert" (Ps 75:6, reading doubtful).

(7) lips, "south west wind" (Ac 27:12).

(8) mesembria, literally, "mid-day"; "south" (Ac 8:26); "noon" (Ac 22:6).

(9) notos, "south wind" (Lu 12:55; Ac 27:13; 28:13); "south" (1 Macc 3:57; Mt 12:42; Lu 11:31; 13:29; Re 21:13).

The south wind is often referred to: see So 4:16; Job 37:9 (compare 9:9); Zec 9:14 (of Isa 21:1); Lu 12:55.

Of the passages where South (neghebh) clearly refers to a particular region between Palestine and Sinai see: "And Abraham journeyed, going on still toward the South" (neghbah) (Ge 12:9; 13:1; De 1:7). We read of "the South of the Jerahmeelites," "the South of the Kenites" (1Sa 27:10); "the South of the Cherethites," "the South of Caleb" (1Sa 30:14); "the South of Judah" (2Ch 28:18); "Ramoth of the South" (1Sa 30:27).

In Ps 126:4, "Turn again our captivity, O Yahweh, as the streams in the South," we have a figurative reference to the fact that, after a long period of drought, the dry watercourses are finally filled with rushing streams. The reference in Eze 20:46 f to "the forest of the South" is to a condition of things very different from that which exists today, though the region is not incapable of supporting trees if they are only planted and protected.

Written by Alfred Ely Day