Noph

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

Sometimes called also, in Hebrew, MOPH, Hosea 9:6 , the ancient city of Memphis in Egypt. The ruins of it, though not to any great extent, are still found a few miles above Old Cairo, or Fostat, Isaiah 19:13 Jeremiah 2:16 44:1 Ezekiel 30:13,16 .

Memphis was the residence of the ancient kings of Egypt till the times of the Ptolemies, who commonly resided at Alexandria. Here, it is supposed, Joseph was a prisoner and a ruler, and here Moses stood before Pharaoh. The prophets, in the places above referred to, foretell the miseries Memphis was to suffer from the kings of Chaldea and Persia; and threaten the Israelites who should retire into Egypt, or should have recourse to the Egyptians, that they should perish in that country. In this city they fed and worshipped the sacred bull Apis, the embodiment of their false god Osiris; and Ezekiel says, that the lord will destroy the idols of Memphis, Ezekiel 30:13,16 . Memphis retained much of its splendor till it was conquered by the Arabians in the eighteenth or nineteenth year of the Hegira, A. D. 641; after which it was superseded as the metropolis of Egypt by Fostat, now Old Cairo, in the construction of which its materials were employed. The pyramids, in which its distinguished men were buried, still survive; but the magnificent city, that stretched along for many miles between them and the river, has almost wholly disappeared.

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

Memphis, a celebrated city of Egypt, and, till the time of the Ptolemies, who removed to Alexandria, the residence of the ancient kings of Egypt. It stood above the dividing of the river Nile, where the Delta begins. Toward the south of this city stood the famous pyramids, two of which were esteemed the wonder of the world; and in this city was fed the ox Apis, which Cambyses slew, in contempt of the Egyptians, who worshipped it as a deity. The kings of Egypt took much pleasure in adorning this city; and it continued in all its beauty till the Arabians made a conquest of Egypt under the Caliph Omar. The general who took it built another city near it, named Fustal, merely because his tent had been a long time set up in that place; and the Fatimite caliphs, when they became masters of Egypt, added another to it, which is known to us at this day by the name of Grand Cairo. This occasioned the utter decay of Memphis, and led to the fulfilment of the prophecy, that it should be "waste and without inhabitant." The prophets often speak of this city, and foretel the miseries it was to suffer from the kings of Chaldea and Persia, Isaiah 19:13; Jeremiah 44:1; Jeremiah 46:14; Jeremiah 46:19; Hosea 9:6; Ezekiel 30:13; Ezekiel 30:16 .

Holman Bible Dictionary

Isaiah 19:13Jeremiah 2:16Jeremiah 44:1Jeremiah 46:1446:19Ezekiel 30:1330:16Memphis

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Isaiah 19:13Isaiah 44:146:14,19Ezekiel 30:13,16Hosea 9:6Memphis

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

(See MEMPHIS.) In Egypt (Isaiah 19:13; Jeremiah 2:16; Ezekiel 30:13; Ezekiel 30:16; Hosea 9:6).

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Noph. See Memphis.

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Noph. See Memphis.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

NOPH. See Memphis.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

See MEMPHIS.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Heb. id., נֹ ; Sept. Μέμφις; Vulg. Memphis, Isaiah 19:13; Jeremiah 2:16; Ezekiel 30:13; Ezekiel 30:16; doubtless identical with מֹ, foph; Sept. Μέμφις ; Vulg. Memphis, Hosea 9:6), a city of Egypt, better known bv its classic name Memphis. These forms are contracted from the ancient Egyptian common name, Men-Nufr, or Men Nefru, "the good abode," or perhaps "the abode of the good one;" also contracted in the Coptic forms menphi, memphi, menbe, membe (Memphitic), menrphe (Sahidic); in the Greek Μέμφις, and in the Arabic Menf. The Hebrew forms are to be regarded as representing colloquial forms of the name, current with the Shemites, if not with-the Egyptians also. As to the meaning of Memphis, Plutarch observes that it was interpreted to signify either the haven of good ones or the sepulcher of Osiris (καὶ τὴν πόλιν οἱ μὲν ὅρμον ἀγαθῶν ἑρυηνεύουσιν οἱ δ᾿ [ἰδί ]ως τάφον Ο᾿σίριδος, De Iside et Osiride, 20). It is probable that the epithet "good" refers to Osiris, whose sacred animal Apis was here worshipped, and here had its burial-place, the Serapeum, whence the name of the village Busiris (Pa-Hesar? "the [abode ?] of Osiris"), now represented in name, if not in exact site, by Abu-Sir, probably originally a quarter of Memphis. As the great upper Egyptian city is characterized in Nahum as "situate among the rivers" (3:8), so in Hosea the lower Egyptian one is distinguished by its Necropolis, in this passage as to the fugitive Israelites: "Mizraim shall gather them up, Noph shall bury them.;" for its burial-ground, stretching for twenty miles along the edge of the Libyan desert, greatly exceeds that of any other Egyptian town. See Brugsch, Geogr. Inschr. 1:234 sq. (See Memphis).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

nof ( נף , nōph  ; in Hosea 9:6 mōph ): A name for the Egyptian city Memphis (so the Septuagint), hence, thus rendered in the Revised Version (British and American) (Isaiah 19:13; Jeremiah 2:16; Jeremiah 44:1; Ezekiel 30:13 , Ezekiel 30:16 ). See Memphis .

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Noph [MEMPHIS]