Beth-Nimrah

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Beth-nim'rah. (House Of Leopards). One of the fenced cities, on the east of Jordan, taken and built by the tribe of Gad,  Numbers 32:36, and described as being in the valley beside, Beth-haran .  Joshua 13:27. In  Numbers 32:3, it is called simply Nimrah . The name still survives in the modern Nahr Nimrim, above Jericho on the Jordan.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

Beth-Nimrah (‘place of the leopard,’   Numbers 32:36 etc., called Nimrah v. 3, and, some think, Nimrim   Isaiah 15:6 , see Nimrim). A town in the territory E. of Jordan allotted to Reuben. It is represented by the modern Tell Nimrîn , 6 miles E. of the Jordan, about 10 miles N. of the Dead Sea, on the S. bank of Wâdy Shaib .

W. Ewing.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

 Numbers 32:3,36;  Joshua 13:27 , and Nimrim,  Isaiah 15:6;  Jeremiah 48:34; a town in Gad, a little east of the Jordan, on a watercourse leading, from near Ramoth-Gilead, southwest into that river.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Numbers 32:36 Numbers 32:3

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Heb. Beyth Nimrah', בֵּית נִמְרָה , House Of Limpid water; Sept. Ἡ Ναμβρά and Βηθναμρά , with many var. readings), one of the "fenced cities" on the east of the Jordan taken and "built" by the tribe of Gad ( Numbers 32:36), and described as lying " ‘ in the valley" ( בָּעֵמֶק ) beside Beth-haran ( Joshua 13:27). In  Numbers 32:3, it is named simply NIMRAH (See Nimrah) (q.v.). The "Waters of Nimrim," which are named in the denunciations of Moab by Isaiah ( Isaiah 15:6) and Jeremiah ( Jeremiah 48:34), must, from the context, be in the same locality. (See Nimbim). By Eusebius and Jerome ( Onom. s.v. Βηθναβράν , Bethamnaram) the village (called by them Bethnabris, Βηθναβρίς , Bethamnaris) is said to have been still standing five miles north of Livias (Beth-haran). The Talmudists call it also Beth Nimrin ( בֵּית נִמְרִין , comp. Targum on  Numbers 32:3) or Beth-Namer ( בֵּית נָמֵר ,? panther-house," Peah, 4, 5; comp. Schwarz, p. 232). The name still survives in the Nahr- Nimrin, the Arab appellation of the lower end of the Wady Shoaib, where the waters of that valley discharge themselves into the Jordan close to one of the regular fords a few miles above Jericho (Burckhardt, Syria, p. 355). It has been seen by Seetzen (Reisen, 1854, 2:318) and Robinson (Researches, 2, 279), but does not appear to have been explored, and all that is known is that the vegetation is very thick, betokening an abundance of water. The Wady Shoaib runs back up into the eastern mountains as far as es-Salt. Its name (the modern form of Hobab?) connects it with the wanderings of the children of Israel, and a tradition still clings to the neighborhood that it was down this valley they descended to the Jordan (Seetzen, 2:377).

It seems to have escaped notice how nearly the requirements of BETHABARA (See Bethabara) (q.v.) are met in the circumstances of Bethnimrah — its abundance of water and its situation close to "the region round about Jordan" ( Ἡ Περίχωρος Τοῦ Ι᾿Ορδάνου , i.e. the Ciccar of the O.T., the Oasis of Jericho), immediately accessible to "Jerusalem and all Judaea" ( John 1:28;  Matthew 3:5;  Mark 1:5) by the direct and ordinary road from the capital. Add to this that in the Sept. the name of Bethnimrah is found very nearly assuming the form of Bethabara — Βαιθαναβρά , Βηθαβρά , Βεθαραβά (see Holmes and Parsons' text).

This site, the present Nimrin, is thus described by Prof. Merrill (East of the Jordan, p. 384): "The ruins cover a considerable space, and the location is an excellent one for a city. The stream which flows past the place is perhaps the largest on that side of the Jordan south of the Zerka, and to it I refer the ‘ waters of Nimrim' mentioned in  Isaiah 15:6 and  Jeremiah 48:34."

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

beth - nim´ra ( בּית נמרה , bēth nimrāh , "house of leopard,"  Numbers 32:36 , but in  Numbers 32:3 it is simply Nimrah): In   Joshua 13:27 the full name appears. In   Isaiah 15:6 the name appears as Nimrim, identified as Tell Nimrim, between Jericho and the mountains on the east, where there is a fountain of large size. The city was assigned to Gad. In the 4th century ad it was located as five Roman miles North of Livias. Eusebius calls it Bethamnaram ( SEP , I, Tell Nimrin).