(Deut. 27:17) Since landholders generally were dependent upon the produce of their plots of ground, moving back a boundary mark would mean depriving another person of some of his means of sustenance. Doing this was equivalent to theft and was so viewed in ancient times. (Job 24:2) But there were unscrupulous persons who were guilty of such abuses, and princes of Judah in Hosea’s time were likened to those moving back a boundary.—Hos. 5:10.

Removal of landmarks or boundary marks was viewed as a crime, not only under the Mosaic law, but according to Babylonian law. This action was also prohibited by the Egyptian ruler Amen-em-opet and in Greek and Roman legislation.

God is considerate of the widowed and fatherless. Thus it is said that Jehovah will tear down the house of the self-exalted, “but he will fix the boundary of the widow.” (Prov. 15:25) Then, too, Proverbs 23:10, 11 declares: “Do not move back the boundary of long ago, and into the field of fatherless boys do not enter. For their Redeemer is strong; he himself will plead their cause with you.”

BOW

See ARMS, ARMOR.

BOWELS

The intestines or entrails. The word may refer to the deep or remote part of anything, as the “bowels” of the earth. The Hebrew words frequently translated “bowels” in the older Bible versions are also rendered in more modern translations as “intestines,” or “entrails,” where the context clearly indicates that they have that connotation. (Compare 2 Samuel 20:10; 2 Chronicles 21:15, 18, 19; Job 20:14, in various Bible versions.) Where the Hebrew terms are not confined to “intestines” the English words “belly,” “inward parts,” “body,” “stomach,” “womb,” and related expressions are sometimes used in modern translations.—Gen. 15:4; 25:23; Ps. 71:6; Isa. 16:11; 49:1.

Physical food is assimilated by the intestines. This fact was metaphorically used to represent mental or spiritual digestion when in vision, Ezekiel was told to eat a scroll, filling his intestines or bowels with it. Ezekiel was to gain spiritual strength by meditating upon and storing in his memory the words written in the scroll. He was thereby nourished spiritually and provided with a message to speak.—Ezek. 3:1-6; compare Revelation 10:8-10.

Since deep emotions have a marked effect on one’s literal bowels, the same Hebrew words or forms of the words are sometimes used figuratively as “inward emotions,” “pity,” “inward parts,” “mercies” and the like, as at Genesis 43:14, 30; Lamentations 3:22; Isaiah 48:19.

In the Christian Greek Scriptures the word splagʹkhna literally means “bowels.” It is used once (in the plural) to refer to the literal intestines. (Acts 1:18) Elsewhere the forms of the word denote “tender affections” and similar emotions.—2 Cor. 6:12; Phil. 1:8; 2:1; Col. 3:12; 1 John 3:17.

BOWING DOWN

See ATTITUDES AND GESTURES.

BOWL

See BASIN; VESSELS.

BOWMAN

See ARCHER; ARMS, ARMOR.

BOY

See CHILD, CHILDREN; SON.

BOZEZ

(Boʹzez) [perhaps, shining].

One of two rocks or toothlike crags associated with Jonathan’s victory over the Philistines recorded at 1 Samuel 14:4-14. Jonathan, looking for a passage to cross over to attack the Philistine outpost, saw the two crags, one on the N facing Michmash (where the Philistines were encamped), the other on the S facing Geba. (1 Sam. 13:16; 14:5) Between these two cities the Wadi Suweinit descends toward the Jordan and becomes a deep gorge with nearly vertical cliffs somewhat to the E of the cities. The location of the two crags is considered to have been at the point where the wadi makes a sharp bend, though the precise identification of the crags is conjectural. Nevertheless, in the book The Romance of the Last Crusade, by Major Vivian Gilbert of the British Army, the author presents the account of a brigade major in General Allenby’s army in Palestine who, upon receiving orders to take the village of Michmash, successfully employed the information in 1 Samuel chapters 13 and 14 regarding these two crags to locate a pass up to the rocky prominence on which Michmash lay.

BOZKATH

(Bozʹkath) [elevated, stony ground].

A town in the inheritance of Judah (Josh. 15:39) and home of King Josiah’s maternal grandfather Adaiah. (2 Ki. 22:1) Listed between Eglon and Lachish, it was apparently in the lowlands or Shephelah region. Its identification is uncertain; some would place it at present-day ed-Dawaʼime, about eleven and a half miles (19 kilometers) W of Hebron, and SW of Lachish.

BOZRAH

(Bozʹrah) [fortified place].

1. A prominent city of Edom, the home of the father of Jobab, an Edomite king in the second millennium B.C.E. (Gen. 36:31, 33; 1 Chron. 1:44) Its prominence is evident from the fact that the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah and Amos under inspiration referred to it as representative of all Edom, due for desolation.—Isa. 34:5, 6; 63:1-4; Jer. 49:12, 13, 17, 22; Amos 1:11, 12.

Bozrah’s name indicates it to have been a fortress city. It is identified with modern Buseira, about twenty-four miles (39 kilometers) SE of the southern extremity of the Dead Sea, and situated on the main road to Petra. It thus occupied a fairly central position in the Edomite kingdom and guarded the approaches to the copper mines in the Arabah. The ancient ruins at Buseira show Bozrah to have been a strongly fortified city built on a narrow spur jutting out from the Jebel esh-Sheraʼ with deep wadis on either side so that its position was nearly impregnable.

The rendering of Micah 2:12 in the Authorized Version contains the name “Bozrah” but most modern translations view this as referring, not to a town, but an enclosure or “pen” for sheep.

2. In prophesying against Moab, Jeremiah 48:24 refers to Bozrah as among cities “of the land of Moab.” It is included among other cities of the tableland or “land of level country [Heb., mi·shorʹ]” (vs. 21), and the use of this same Hebrew word in connection with Bezer (Deut. 4:43) causes some scholars to view them as likely the same place. Since Jeremiah’s prophesying took place about a century after the fall of the northern kingdom, this would allow for Moab’s expansion northward to take in the cities previously held by Reuben. Others would identify this Bozrah with Bosora in the Hauran, but this site seems too far to the N and too removed from the other cities mentioned to fit the description.—See BEZER No. 2.

BRACELET

A decorative circlet worn on the wrist or upper arm, sometimes forming a complete circle, though in other instances having an opening or clasp. The term “armlet” can be applied to such a band for the upper arm, but this can also be called a bracelet. In ancient times bracelets were worn by both men and women, sometimes