Nain

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

NAIN ( Ναΐν אBCD Ti WH [Note: H Westcott and Hort’s text.] , etc.; Ναείν EGΓΔ, etc., Ναείμ 1 and 209, al pauc) is named only once in Scripture. St. Luke mentions it ( Luke 7:11) as the ‘city’ to which the widow, whose dead son Jesus raised to life, belonged. The miracle was wrought near to the ‘gate,’ and in the presence of ‘much people.’ This Nain cannot be the same as the village on the E. [Note: Elohist.] side of the Jordan mentioned by Josephus ( BJ iv. ix. 4). Robinson ( BMP 2 [Note: designates the particular edition of the work referred] ii. 361) identified Nain with the modern Nein , a collection of squalid huts on the N. slope of Jebel cd-Duhy (Little Hermon), 2 miles W. of Endor and about a day’s journey from Capernaum (cf.  Luke 7:1;  Luke 7:11 (margin)). Robinson’s view has been generally accepted. It agrees roughly with the statements of Eusebius and Jerome, both of whom place it S. of Tabor and not far from Endor. Eusebius reckons it 12 miles to the south ( Onom. s.v. Ναείν), Jerome ( ib. s.v. ‘Naim’) says 2 miles. The situation of the present village is bleak and uninviting, though it commands a wide and interesting view. A few hundred paces above the huts, to the S.E. [Note: Elohist.] , are rock-tombs in the hillside. Ramsay ( Education of Jesus , Preface, p. ix) says he has ‘little doubt that the ancient city was on the top’ of the hill, somewhere above the modern village. He expresses his belief that this site has more claim to be the ‘city set on a hill’ ( Matthew 5:14) than Safed. It should be noted that Cheyne doubts the correctness of the reading Ναἱν here ( Encyc. Bibl. iii. 3263), and claims Nestle ( Philol. Sacra , 20) as also recognizing ‘the doubtfulness of the locality assigned in Luke.’

Literature.—Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible iii. 477; Stanley, SP [Note: P Sinai and Palestine.] 357; Thomson, Land and Book , 445; Tristram, Land of Israel , 127; Buhl, GAP [Note: AP Geographic des alten Palästina.] 217; Guérin, Galilee, i. 115 f.; Neubaner, Géog. du Talm. [Note: Talmud.] 188; Sanday, Sacred Sites of the Gospels , 24, 101; Baedeker-Socin, Pal. [Note: Palestine, Palestinian.] 346; Murray, Handbook for S. and P. 349.

A. W. Cooke.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

NAIN. The town where Jesus raised the widow’s son to life (  Luke 7:11 ). The name is found in the modern Nein , a small, squalid village, 6 miles S.E. of Nazareth, on the N. slope of the Hill of Moreh, the so-called ‘Little Hermon.’ The summit of the hill is 1690 feet high, with a white-domed sanctuary, the tomb of the saint from whom the mountain takes its modern name, Jebel ed-Duhy . The village is 744 feet above the sea. Sir W. M. Ramsay thinks ‘there can be little doubt that the ancient city was on the top’ of the hill ( The Education of Christ , Preface, ix), but the evidence is not stated. The present village is insignificant. Ruins stretch to the north, showing that the place was once of some importance; but they are comparatively modern. The rock-cut tombs to the East, however, bespeak a much higher antiquity. The small sanctuary, Maqâm Sîdna ‘Isa , ‘Place of our Lord Jesus,’ on the north, doubtless commemorates the visit of the Saviour. There is no trace of city walls. Tristram was misled by the shape of the ruins ( Land of Israel , 125). ‘The Gate’ was probably the usual entrance from that direction. The site commands an interesting view. Across a narrow bay of Esdraelon rises Mt. Tabor, over the eastern shoulder of which the white summit of Hermon is visible; while to the N.W. and W. the eye ranges over the hills of Lower Galilee, and the rolling breadths of the great plain, to Mt. Carmel by the sea.

W. Ewing.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Na'in. (Beauty). A village of Galilee, the gate of which is made illustrious, by the raising of the widow's son.  Luke 7:12. The modern Nein is situated on the northwestern edge of the "Little Hermon", or Jebel-Ed-Duhy , where the ground falls into the plain of Esdraelon. The entrance to the place, where our Saviour met the funeral, must probably always have seen up the steep ascent from the plain; and here on the west side of the village, the rock is full of sepulchral caves.

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

The scene of Christ's raising the widow's son ( Luke 7:12). Now Nein on N.W. verge of jebel ed Duhy (Little Hermon) where it slopes down to Esdraelon plain. The rock W. of the village abounds in cave tombs, also in the E. side. Eighteen miles from Capernaum, where Jesus had been the preceding day. Josephus (Ant. 20:5, section 1) notices Nain as on the way from Galilee to Jerusalem, the very way Jesus was going.

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Nain ( Nâ'In ), Beauty. A town in Galilee where Christ raised the widow's dead son to life.  Luke 7:11. It is now called Nein, and is on the northwestern edge of Little Hermon, six miles southeast of Nazareth, and 25 miles southwest of Tell Hum (Capernaum?).

Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary

A city of Palestine, rendered memorable from the Lord Jesus raising the widow's son from death at the gate of this city. (See  Luke 7:11) The word is derived from Naham, beauty.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

Where Christ performed one of his chief miracles, in raising to life a widow's only son,  Luke 7:11-17 , was a small village in Galilee, three miles south by west of Mount Tabor: It is now a petty hamlet, called Nein.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

City near to which the Lord raised to life the widow's son.  Luke 7:11 . Identified with Nein, 32 38' N, 35 20' E . The village is approached by a steep and rocky ascent from the plains of Esdraelon.

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

a city of Palestine, in which Jesus Christ restored the widow's son to life, as they were carrying him out to be buried. Eusebius says, that this was in the neighbourhood of Endor and Scythopolis, two miles from Tabor, toward the south.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Luke 7:11-17

This was the first miracle of raising the dead our Lord had wrought, and it excited great awe and astonishment among the people.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Luke 7:11-15

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Gr. Ναϊ v Ν ; according to Simon, from Heb. נָאַין Nain', Green Pastures; so written in the Eastern versions of the N.T., but Schwarz, Palest. page 169, writes נעים , as if from נָעַין , Gracefulness), a town ( Πόλις ) of Palestine, mentioned only in the N.T. as the place where Jesus raised the widow's son to life ( Luke 7:11-17). Josephus speaks of a Nain, but it was different from this, being situated in the south (War, 4:9, 4). The site of Nain is described by Jerome as being two miles south of Tabor, near Endor (Onomast. s.v. Naim; Eusebius has twelve miles, but the error is probably that of a copyist writing Ιβ instead of Β . Neither this number, however, nor that of Jerome, is accurate). Phocas places it north of Tabor (see Reland, Palaest. page 904). As its name has always been preserved, it was recognised by the Crusaders, and has often been noticed by travellers up to the present day. It has now dwindled to a mean village called Nein (according to De Saulcy [Dead Sea, 1:75], Nayin, pronounced by the Arabs exactly as Ναϊ v Ν ), which contains remains of very ancient buildings, with a fountain (Tristram, Land of Israel, page 130). It stands on a bleak, rocky slope, on the northern declivity of Jebel ed-Duhy (the "hill Moreh" of Scripture, and the "Little Hermon" of modern travellers), directly facing Tabor, from which it is four miles distant, and two and a half miles south- west of Endor. It is a small, poor hamlet, of some twenty houses, or rather huts. Round the houses, however, are pretty extensive ruins; and there are some traces of what appears to be an ancient wall. The most interesting antiquities are tombs, hewn in the rock, a short distance east of the village. It was in this direction our Lord approached, and probably to one or other of those very tombs they were bearing the corpse when he met and arrested the mournful procession (see Thomson, Land and Book, 2:158). The situation of Nain is extremely beautiful. At the foot of the slope on which it stands is the great plain of Esdraelon, bounded on the north by the gracefil wooded hills of Galilee, over which the snow-capped summits of Hermon and Lebanon ap- pear. See Robinson, Bib. Res. 2:361; Van de Velde, Syria and Palestine, 2:382; Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, page 357; Porter, Hand-book to Syria, page 358.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

nā´in ( Ναίν , Naı́n ): This town is mentioned in Scripture only in connection with the visit of Jesus and the miracle of raising the widow's son from the dead   Luke 7:11 . The name persists to this day, and in the form of Nein clings to a small village on the northwestern slope of Jebel ed - Duḥy ("Hill of Moreh"), the mountain which, since the Middle Ages, has been known as Little Hermon. The modern name of the mountain is derived from Neby Duḥy whose wely crowns the height above the village. There are many ancient remains, proving that the place was once of considerable size. It was never enclosed by a wall, as some have thought from the mention of "the gate." This was probably the opening between the houses by which the road entered the town. Tristram thought he had found traces of an ancient city wall, but this proved to be incorrect. The ancient town perhaps stood somewhat higher on the hill than the present village. In the rocks to the East are many tombs of antiquity. The site commands a beautiful and extensive view across the plain to Carmel, over the Nazareth hills, and away past Tabor to where the white peak of Hermon glistens in the sun. To the South are the heights of Gilboa and the uplands of Samaria. The village, once prosperous, has fallen on evil days. It is said that the villagers received such good prices for simsum that they cultivated it on a large scale. A sudden drop in the price brought them to ruin, from which, after many years, they have not yet fully recovered.

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Na´in, a town of Palestine, where Jesus raised the widow's son to life . Eusebius and Jerome describe it as near Endor.