as the mother of both gods and men, and is described as riding in a chariot accompanied by the stars.

FIGURATIVE USE

The word “night” is at times used in a figurative or symbolic sense in the Bible. At John 9:4 Jesus spoke of the “night . . . coming when no man can work.” Jesus here referred to the time of his judgment, impalement and death, when he would be unable to engage in the works of his father. (See Ecclesiastes 9:10; Job 10:21, 22.) At Romans 13:11, 12 the “night” manifestly refers to a period of darkness caused by God’s adversary, which is due to be ended by Christ Jesus and his reign. (See Ephesians 6:12, 13; Colossians 1:13, 14.) At 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 God’s servants who have been enlightened by his truth are contrasted with worldly people who have not. Their way of life manifests that they are “sons of light and sons of day. [They] belong neither to night nor to darkness.” (See John 8:12; 12:36, 46; 1 Peter 2:9; 2 Corinthians 6:14.) A similar usage is found at Micah 3:6, where the prophet says to those rejecting true divine guidance: “Therefore you men will have night, so that there will be no vision; and darkness you will have, so as not to practice divination. And the sun will certainly set upon the prophets, and the day must get dark upon them.”—Compare John 3:19-21.

The night is also used to represent, generally, a time of adversity, since the night with its gloom and obscurity is the time when wild beasts roam, when armies launch surprise attacks, when thieves creep in, and other acts of evil are committed. (Ps. 91:5, 6; 104:20, 21; Isa. 21:4, 8, 9; Dan. 5:25-31; Obad. 5) It is in these different figurative senses that we must understand the texts at Revelation 21:2, 25 and 22:5, where we are assured that in the “New Jerusalem” “night will be no more.”

NIGHTJAR

[Heb., li·lithʹ].

This Hebrew word, appearing in the description of Edom’s utter desolation and of the creatures inhabiting its ruins (Isa. 34:14), has been variously translated as “screech owl” (AV), “night-monster” (AS), and “night hag” (RS), while The Jerusalem Bible prefers simply to transliterate the name as “Lilith.” Many modern authorities endeavor to show that the Hebrew term is a “loan-word” from ancient Sumerian and Akkadian and that it derives from the name of a mythological female demon of the air (lilitu). Others, however, consider such a position unwarranted. Thus, in concluding its discussion of the matter, The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia (Vol. IV, p. 2145) states: “There still remains a by no means untenable supposition that none of the terms necessarily are mythological in this particular passage.” The New Bible Dictionary (1962, p. 740) comments: “There is, however, no real evidence for insisting on a mythological interpretation of the word, and it is perhaps significant that most of the other creatures listed in Is. xxxiv are real animals or birds.”

In an article in the Palestine Exploration Quarterly (1959, Vol. XCI, p. 55), Professor G. R. Driver likewise states that “there is no reason to expect such a loan-word in any passage of the Old Testament where no ancient Vs.[Version] attests it.” He considers the Hebrew word (li·lithʹ) to derive from a root word denoting “every kind of twisting motion or twisted object,” even as the Hebrew word layʹlah (or laʹyil) meaning “night” suggests a “wrapping itself round or enfolding the earth.” Such derivation of li·lithʹ, he suggests, may likely point to the “nightjar” as both a nocturnal feeding bird and one noted for its rapid twisting and turning flight as it pursues moths, beetles and other night-flying insects. Tristram, the naturalist, described the nightjar as “becoming very active towards dusk, when they hawk about at great speed and with intricate turnings after their food.”

As to the likelihood of such a bird being found in the arid region of Edom, certain varieties of this bird are known to inhabit waste places. An Egyptian nightjar (Caprimulgus æqyptius) lives almost exclusively in the desert, occupying acacia groves and tamarisk bushes and seeking its food in twilight. Another (Caprimulgus tamaricis) is found at the northern and southern ends of the Dead Sea, hence in regions like that of Edom.

The nightjar is considered to be related to the owl and to include the whippoorwill among its members. Its English name derives from the fact that, like the owl, it is a nocturnal feeder and also from the peculiar “jarring” sound it makes, described as like the churring sound of “a pallet falling on the cogs of a rapidly-working wheel.” About eleven inches (28 centimeters) in length with a wingspan of twenty inches (51 centimeters), its plumage resembles the owl’s, being soft and delicately mottled with gray and brown. The soft wing feathers also allow for noiseless flight like that of the owls. Unlike the owl, however, it is solely an insect eater, equipped with a small beak but an unusually large mouth in which it engulfs its food, large bristles projecting from the corners of the mouth helping to funnel in the insects. Its large mouth is evidently the reason for its also being called the “goatsucker,” an ancient legend holding that the bird sucked the milk of goats.

NILE

The Greek name given to the river, the lower part of whose valley formed the land of ancient Egypt, making that land essentially a river oasis. In the Hebrew Scriptures the river is regularly referred to by the term y^eʼohrʹ (sometimes y^eʼorʹ). According to the Hebrew lexicons by Brown, Driver and Briggs and by Koehler and Baumgartner, the word itself means a stream or canal (as at Isaiah 33:21) or a water-filled shaft or gallery (made in mining, as at Job 28:10). In one case y^eʼohrʹ is used to refer to the Tigris River (Biblical Hiddekel) of Mesopotamia. (Dan. 12:5-7; compare 10:4.) All other occurrences, the context indicates, apply to the Nile or, when in the plural form, to the Nile canals or arms. (Ps. 78:44; Isa. 7:18) The common Egyptian name (itrw) for the river, at least from the so-called “Middle Kingdom” on, corresponds closely to the Hebrew.

THE COURSE OF THE NILE

The Nile is generally ranked as the longest river on earth. Its length of 4,160 miles (c. 6,693 kilometers) is measured from its sources, which take their rise in the lake regions of modern Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania. These sources flow into Lake Victoria and from here a river passes over to Lake Albert; farther north the stream is known as the White Nile. At Khartoum, the White Nile is joined by the Blue Nile, which cascades down from the mountains of northern Ethiopia. Below Khartoum the river forms the Nile proper, and as such receives the waters of only one more tributary, the Atbara River, its confluence with the Nile occurring about two hundred miles (321.8 kilometers) NE of Khartoum. The Nile then winds its way through the desolate tableland of northern Sudan, passing over six separate beds of hard granite rock that create six cataracts between Khartoum and Aswan (Biblical Syene), the point where Nubia ended and ancient Egypt began. Finally, having lost much of its volume due to evaporation by the blazing sun and the demands of Egyptian irrigation, some 1,700 miles (c. 2,735 kilometers) N of Khartoum the Nile’s waters empty into the Mediterranean Sea.

The Nile valley is quite narrow along most of the river’s course. Through much of Nubia the river flows through a gorge, bordered on each side by the desert. North of Aswan, in what was Upper Egypt, the valley broadens out but the rocky cliffs on either side are never more than about thirteen miles (c. 21 kilometers) apart. However, when the river reaches the region just N of modern Cairo it divides into two main branches, now called the Rosetta and the Damietta, after the names of the port cities situated at the mouths of these branches on the Mediterranean coast. This fanning out of the Nile’s waters creates the swampy Nile Delta, so called because its roughly triangular shape resembles the Greek letter (Δ) of that name. In ancient times the river had other branches, the classical Greek historians and geographers making mention of from five to seven. These branches and some of the canals have since become silted up and either greatly reduced or eliminated.

IMPORTANCE OF ANNUAL FLOODING

A unique characteristic of this major river is the regularity of its rise each year and the consequent flooding of its banks, lined with agricultural villages. This is produced by the winter and spring rains (as well as the melting of snow from the mountains) in Ethiopia, which convert the Blue Nile into a torrential stream rushing toward its junction with the White Nile, carrying with it rich silt from the Ethiopian highlands. The Atbara River also adds an increased flow to swell the volume of the Nile. Prior to the construction of the Aswan dams, this caused the river to begin to rise in Egypt from June onward, cresting in September and thereafter gradually receding. On receding, the waters left behind a deposit of highly fertile soil in the form of a thin layer of mud.

In a virtually rainless land, Egyptian agriculture was totally dependent upon these annual inundations of the lowlands. An insufficient rise had the same effect as drought, bringing famine; while an excessive rise brought damage to the irrigation works (as well as to homes). The concern of the Egyptians for a desirable amount of inundation is seen in the Nilometers (or gauges for measuring the river’s level) that have been discovered at ancient sites. A satisfactory inundation might bring the river’s height to about twenty-three feet (7 meters) at Cairo, while at Aswan the crest is usually twenty-six feet (c. 8 meters). Without these inundations the never-distant desert would press in from both sides right up to the riverbanks. Yet the Nile’s rise and fall has, with few exceptions, been so regular that Egypt throughout its history was noted for its abundant crops and agricultural wealth.

This complete reliance of the Egyptian economy on the Nile’s waters was well illustrated in Pharaoh’s dream, the seven fat cows proceeding out of the Nile and feeding on the Nile grass, while the seven thin cows came from the same source. This aptly represented the way good production could be eaten up by poor years resulting from insufficient inundation.—Gen. 41:17-21.

The surging of the Nile waters over their banks was used to describe the forward push of marching armies (Jer. 46:7, 8; 47:2, 3), while the prophet Amos used the rising and falling of the Nile’s waters to represent the agitation due to come upon unfaithful Israel. (Amos 8:8; 9:5) Other prophets employed the figure of the Nile’s drying up to represent the disaster due to come upon Egypt as a result of God’s judgment against the nation. The Nile’s failure would not only cripple agriculture and stock-raising but also damage the fishing industry and the production of linen.—Isa. 19:1, 5-10; Ezek. 29:9, 10; Zech. 10:11.

To retain some of the floodwaters for later use in irrigation during the growing season, the Egyptians trapped the muddy waters in large catch basins formed by building up earthen embankments. So, when Moses’ rod was stretched out, not only the water in the Nile itself, but also that in its canals and reedy pools and the “impounded waters” was converted into blood.—Ex. 7:14-25.

OTHER FEATURES

Besides supplying water for plants and domestic animals, the Nile was the source of drinking water for the Egyptians. (Ex. 7:18, 21, 24) Except during the initial stage of inundation, the water was very palatable. Along the Nile’s canals and reedy pools papyrus plants grew in abundance, providing the source of Egyptian writing material, as well as being used for making boats. (Isa. 18:2) The reedy shores and pools were the habitat of many wild birds that fed upon frogs and other small creatures. (Ex. 8:5, 9-11) Egyptian pictures show bird hunting being done from small boats. The Nile waters served, too, for bathing, as Pharaoh’s daughter is recorded as doing. (Ex. 2:5) An Egyptian picture presents a very similar bathing scene of a noble woman with her four female attendants. The Nile was also the principal highway for the entire land. Boats heading N traveled downstream on the current, while those heading S (upstream) were pushed along by the prevailing winds moving inland from the Mediterranean Sea on the N. Into the mouths of its branches on the Mediterranean sailed commercial ships from Phoenicia and Crete, large vessels being able to ascend all the way to Thebes (Biblical No-amon; Nah. 3:8) and beyond.

The Nile figured prominently in Egyptian defenses against invasion. Its cataracts to the S made the land difficult to attack from the direction of Nubia-Ethiopia, while the swampy land around the delta region hindered the entrance of large armies from the Asiatic continent. Some scholars suggest that Assyrian King Sennacherib’s boast of drying up all the Nile canals with his feet signified his confidence of being able to overcome defensive water-filled moats around Egyptian cities and strongholds.—2 Ki. 19:24.

The Nile’s cycles served as the basis for the seasonal calendar of the Egyptians, with three four-month seasons: ʼAkhet or Inundation; Peret, the Coming Forth (evidently of the land as the waters returned to their banks); and Shomu, the Dry season (summer). The period just after the waters were highest was that of the greatest activity; when low water levels prevailed, construction work was programmed to provide a measure of employment.

The symbol of a “great sea monster lying stretched out in the midst of [the] Nile canals,” applied to Pharaoh in the book of Ezekiel, is thought to be drawn from the crocodiles that have inhabited the Nile from ancient times. (Ezek. 29:3-5) Frequent, too, was the hippopotamus, generally identified with the animal designated as “Behemoth” at Job 40:15.

The Egyptians worshiped the Nile as a god of fertility under the name of Hapi. This god was depicted as basically male but with large feminine breasts, the head crowned with aquatic plants and a fisherman’s girdle being around the plump waist. Festivals, with accompanying sacrifices, were held annually in his honor at the beginning of each inundation period. Some scholars suggest that Pharaoh’s going out to the Nile, mentioned at Exodus 7:15, relates to some morning devotional act, though it may have been merely for a morning walk or to examine the height of the river.

[Map on page 1226]

(For fully formatted text, see publication)

NILE RIVER

MEDITERRANEAN SEA

DELTA

Memphis

Cairo

Thebes (No-amon)

Aswan (Syene)

1ST CATARACT

2ND CATARACT

3RD CATARACT

4TH CATARACT

5TH CATARACT

6TH CATARACT

Khartoum

Lake Albert

Lake Victoria

RED SEA

Nile River

Atbara River

Blue Nile

White Nile

NILE CANALS

See CANALS; NILE.

NIMRAH

(Nimʹrah) [leopard, or, pure water].

A town E of the Jordan built or rebuilt by the Gadites; a shortened form of Beth-nimrah.—Num. 32:3-5, 34, 36; see BETH-NIMRAH.

NIMRIM

(Nimʹrim) [wholesome water].

In prophecies directed against Moab, both Isaiah and Jeremiah refer to the “waters of Nimrim.” (Isa. 15:5-9; Jer. 48:34, 35) On the basis of the fertility of the surrounding region, some identify the waters of Nimrim with the Wadi Nimrim, whose waters flow into the Jordan N of the Dead Sea. (See BETH-NIMRAH.) The order in which places are named in the prophecies, however, seems to indicate a location in the S of Moab. Thus many authorities prefer identification with the Wadi en-Numeirah, which flows down into the Dead Sea about eight and a half miles (14 kilometers) from its southern end. The prophecies foretell that these waters will become “sheer” or “mere desolations,” either in a figurative sense due to the desolating of the land or perhaps due to a damming up of their streams by enemy forces.

NIMROD

(Nimʹrod) [possibly, we will rebel, or, let us rebel].

Son of Cush, who was a principal progenitor of the dark-complexioned branch of the human family. (1 Chron. 1:10; compare Jeremiah 13:23.) Nimrod was the founder and king of the first empire to come into existence after the Flood. He distinguished himself as a mighty hunter “before” (in an unfavorable sense; Heb., liph·nehʹ; “against” or “in opposition to”; compare Numbers 16:2; 1 Chronicles 14:8; 2 Chronicles 14:10) or “in front of” Jehovah. (Gen. 10:9, NW, 1953 ed., ftn.) Although in this case some scholars attach a favorable sense to the Hebrew preposition meaning “in front of,” the Jewish Targums, the writings of the historian Josephus and also the context of Genesis chapter 10 suggest that Nimrod was a mighty hunter in defiance of Jehovah.

The beginning of Nimrod’s kingdom included the cities of Babel, Erech, Accad and Calneh, all in the land of Shinar. (Gen. 10:10) Therefore it was likely under his direction that the building of Babel and its tower began. This conclusion is also in agreement with the traditional Jewish view. Wrote Josephus: “[Nimrod] gradually changed the government into tyranny,—seeing no other way of turning men from the fear of God, but to bring them into a constant dependence upon his power. He also said he would be revenged on God, if he should have a mind to drown the world again; for that he would build a tower too high for the waters to be able to reach! . . . Now the multitude were very ready to follow the determination of Nimrod, and to esteem it a piece of cowardice to submit to God; and they built a tower.”—Antiquities of the Jews, Book I, chap. IV, pars. 2, 3.

It appears that after the building of the Tower of Babel Nimrod extended his domain to the territory of Assyria and there built “Nineveh and Rehoboth-Ir and Calah and Resen between Nineveh and Calah: this is the great city.” (Gen. 10:11, 12; compare Micah 5:6.) Since Assyria evidently derived its name from Shem’s son Asshur, Nimrod, as a grandson of Ham, must have invaded Shemite territory. So it would seem that Nimrod made the start in becoming a mighty one or hero, not only as a hunter of animals, but also as a warrior, a man of aggression. (Gen. 10:8) Observes the Cyclopædia by M’Clintock and Strong (Vol. VII, p. 109): “That the mighty hunting was not confined to the chase is apparent from its close connection with the building of eight cities. . . . What Nimrod did in the chase as a hunter was the earlier token of what he achieved as a conqueror. For hunting and heroism were of old specially and naturally associated . . . The Assyrian monuments also picture many feats in hunting, and the word is often employed to denote campaigning. . . . The chase and the battle, which in the same country were connected so closely in aftertimes, may therefore be virtually associated or identified here. The meaning then will be, that Nimrod was the first after the flood to found a kingdom, to unite the fragments of scattered patriarchal rule, and consolidate them under himself as sole head and master; and all this in defiance of Jehovah, for it was the violent intrusion of Hamitic power into a Shemitic territory.”

If Nimrod’s name is correctly defined as “we will rebel” or “let us rebel,” doubtless it came to be applied to him after he began his rebellion.

Concerning the deification of Nimrod, see GODS AND GODDESSES (Babylonian Deities).

NIMSHI

(Nimʹshi) [drawn out, saved].

Father of Jehoshaphat (not the king) and grandfather of Jehu. (1 Ki. 19:16; 2 Ki. 9:2, 14, 20; 2 Chron. 22:7) The name has been found inscribed on a fragment of ancient pottery excavated in Samaria.

NINEVEH

(Ninʹe·veh).

A city of Assyria founded by Nimrod, “a mighty hunter in opposition to Jehovah.” Together with Rehoboth-Ir, Calah and Resen it constituted the “great city.” (Gen. 10:9, 11, 12; Mic. 5:6) Much later it became the capital of the Assyrian Empire. As such, Nineveh was a “city of bloodshed” (Nah. 3:1), for the Assyrians waged many wars of conquest and employed brutal methods in killing captured warriors. Doubtless the military campaigns contributed greatly to the city’s wealth. (Nah. 2:9) The principal deity of Nineveh appears to have been Ishtar, a goddess of love and war.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION

Quyunjiq and Nebi Yunus (“the prophet Jonah”), two mounds located on the E bank of the Tigris River, mark the site of what was once the great city of Nineveh. A modern village, with a cemetery and a mosque, occupies Nebi Yunus. This mound has therefore not been extensively investigated. At Quyunjiq, however, excavations have brought to light much that testifies to Nineveh’s past glory. The findings include