translators have emended 1 Chronicles 2:24 to correspond more to the readings of the Septuagint and the Vulgate. The Jerusalem Bible renders this text: “After Hezron’s death, Caleb married Ephrathah, wife of Hezron his father, who bore him Ashhur, father of Takoa.” The translation by J. B. Rotherham reads: “And after the death of Hezron Caleb entered Ephrathah, and the wife of Hezron was Abiah who bore him Ashhur father of Tekoa.” So, according to these alterations, “Ashhur” is either the “son” of Hezron by Abiah (Abijah) or the “son” of Caleb by Ephrathah.

3. A city on the southern border of Judah situated between Kadesh-barnea and Addar. (Josh. 15:1-3) However, the parallel account at Numbers 34:4 does not list Hezron and Addar separately but reads “Hazar-addar,” implying that Hezron (or Hazar) likely was near Addar, if not actually the same place.—See ADDAR No. 2.

HEZRONITES

(Hezʹron·ites).

This designation is applied both to the family descended from Reuben’s son Hezron (Gen. 46:9; Num. 26:4-6) and to the one descended from Judah’s grandson Hezron.—Gen. 46:12; Num. 26:21.

HHEHTH

or, as commonly anglicized, heth [ח]. The eighth letter in the Hebrew alphabet, later, outside the Hebrew Scriptures, used also to denote the number eight.

This letter is the harshest of the guttural sounds and is similar to the sound of “ch,” as in the Scottish word loch or the German ach. In the Hebrew, in the eighth section of Psalm 119 (verses 57-64) every verse begins with this letter.—See ALPHABET.

In this work it is transliterated as a double h (hh) to denote strong aspiration.

HIDDAI

(Hidʹdai) [possibly, splendor, majesty].

One of the mighty men in David’s army. Hiddai was from the torrent valleys of Gaash in the mountainous region of Ephraim. (2 Sam. 23:8, 30; Josh. 24:30) His name is given as Hurai at 1 Chronicles 11:32.

HIDDEKEL

(Hidʹde·kel).

One of the four rivers branching off from the river issuing out of Eden. (Gen. 2:10-14) The Hiddekel was known in the Akkadian (Assyro-Babylonian) language as the Idiqlat and in Old Persian as the Tigra, from which latter form comes the Greek name for the Tigris River. In modern Arabic it is known as the Dijlah. It is called by some the “twin river” of the Euphrates and, together with this river, it waters the plains of Mesopotamia. It was on the banks of the Tigris (Hiddekel) River that Daniel received the vision concerning the power struggle to be waged by the “king of the north” and the “king of the south.”—Dan. 10:4, 5; 11:5, 6.

The Tigris has its sources in central Armenia (the eastern part of modern Turkey). Of the Tigris’ headstreams, the western is the more distant, rising on the southern slopes of the Anti-Taurus mountains about fifteen miles (24 kilometers) SE of the city of Elazig and just a few miles from the source of the Euphrates River. It is thus evident that these two rivers could easily have had a single source before the global Flood produced topographical changes in the earth’s surface. For the first 150 miles (241 kilometers) the western source flows E-SE and is joined by two shorter eastern sources. Then, at a point S of the western end of Lake Van, the river takes a more southerly course. It passes through a deep gorge before finally emerging from the mountains onto the upper part of the Mesopotamian plain. From there to its junction with the Euphrates River, the Tigris is fed from the E by four tributary streams: the Great and Little Zab, the Adheim, and the Diyala Rivers.

It is generally believed that, anciently, the Tigris and Euphrates had separate entrances into the sea, but that over the centuries the accumulation of silt has filled in the head of the gulf so that now the rivers unite. After their junction they form the wide stream called the Shatt-al-Arab, which flows some 100 miles (161 kilometers) before emptying into the Persian Gulf.

The full length of the Tigris covers some 1,150 miles (1,850 kilometers). It is a wide stream, at some points having a width of 400 yards (366 meters), but is generally shallow, and above Baghdad is navigable only by boats of shallow draught. Rafts, made additionally buoyant by inflated sheep or goats’ skins, are used in the river’s upper courses. A much swifter river than the Euphrates, the Tigris is only about two-thirds the length of its “twin” and of lesser importance commercially.

After entering the Mesopotamian plain the Tigris passes by the sites of many ancient cities. Opposite modern Mosul the ruins of ancient Nineveh lie on the river’s E bank. On the same side, farther S, is the site of Calah-Nimrud, and below it, on the W bank, is found ancient Asshur. A short distance below Baghdad, on the W bank, are the ruins of Seleucia, ancient capital of the Seleucid Dynasty of rulers; and on the opposite side of the river stood Ctesiphon, suggested by some to be the “Casiphia” mentioned at Ezra 8:17-20.

HIEL

(Hiʹel) [God lives].

A Bethelite who rebuilt Jericho during Ahab’s reign in the tenth century B.C.E. In fulfillment of the oath Joshua had pronounced at the destruction of Jericho over five hundred years earlier, Hiel laid the foundation of the city at the forfeit of Abiram his firstborn and put up its doors at the forfeit of Segub his youngest child.—Josh. 6:26; 1 Ki. 16:33, 34.

HIERAPOLIS

(Hi·e·rapʹo·lis) [the holy city].

A city in the province of Asia. Among its pagan residents lived a group of first-century Christians in whose behalf Epaphras ‘put himself to great effort.’ (Col. 4:12, 13) It was located on the northern edge of the Lycus valley of Asia Minor, about six miles (9.7 kilometers) N of Laodicea. Although the apostle Paul apparently never visited Hierapolis, the effects of his long work at Ephesus (from the winter of 52/53 C.E. until after Pentecost in 55 C.E. [1 Cor. 16:8]) radiated over ‘all Asia.’ (Acts 19:1, 10) Christianity appears to have reached Hierapolis through the ‘efforts’ of Epaphras. Tradition also credits the apostles John and Philip with laboring there. While the city lacked political importance, it became prosperous in the peaceful Roman period as a center of devotion to Cybele. Her worship there was enhanced by two natural phenomena, mineral springs and the Ploutonium, or so-called ‘Entrance to Hades,’ a deep, narrow chasm that emitted deadly fumes.

HIGGAION

(Hig·ga·ion).

A transliteration of the Hebrew expression hig·ga·yohnʹ, understood by lexicographers to denote a technical term of musical direction. (Ps. 9:16) On the basis of the context in its appearances in the Hebrew text, it has been variously rendered as “soft utterance,” “meditation,” “thoughts,” “melody,” “sweet music,” “resounding music,” “muttering(s)” and “whispering.” (Ps. 19:14; 92:3; Lam. 3:62, AT, Mo, NW, Ro, RS, Yg) While many ideas have been advanced as to its precise meaning at Psalm 9:16, the most plausible suggestions are that Higgaion in this case signifies either a solemn, deep-toned harp interlude or a solemn pause conducive to meditation.

HIGH PLACES

Although the Hebrew word ba·mohthʹ, generally translated “high places,” is usually associated with worship, it can also simply refer to elevations, hills and mountains (2 Sam. 1:19, 25 [compare 1 Samuel 31:8]; Amos 4:13; Mic. 1:3), “high waves of the sea” (literally, “high places of the sea”) (Job 9:8), and heights or “high places of the