Hena

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

HENA . A word occurring in conjunction with Ivvah ( 2Ki 18:34;   2 Kings 19:13 ,   Isaiah 37:13 ). Both are probably place-names. Büsching has identified Hena with the modern Ana on the Euphrates; and Sachau supposes that Ivvah is ‘Imm between Aleppo and Antioch. The Targum, however, takes the words as verb-forms, and reads ‘he has driven away and overturned.’ Hommel regards them as divine star-names (cf. Arab. [Note: Arabic.] al-han‘a and al-‘awwâ ). Cheyne emends the text, striking out Hena , and reading Iwwah as ‘Azzah (= Gaza).

W. M. Nesbit.

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

A city with its king subjugated by Assyria before Sennacherib's invasion of Judea ( 2 Kings 19:13). Associated with Sepharvaim or Sippara (now Mosaib), probably therefore in Babylonia or on the Euphrates. Near Mosaib is still an And, probably Hena. The Assyrian inscriptions mention Anat, a town on an island in the Euphrates, some distance below its union with the Chabour. The present Anat is on the right bank, but ruins lower down on the left bank are so-called. On some of the string of islands between Anat and the ruins Hena seems to have been situated.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

He'na. (Troubling). A city, the Assyrian kings had reduced shortly before the time of Sennacherib.  2 Kings 19:13;  Isaiah 37:13. At no great distance from Sippara, (now Mosaib ), is an ancient town called And or Anah , which may be the same as Hena . It is 20 miles from Babylon on the Euphrates.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

A city of which Rabshakeh boasted that neither its god nor its king had been able to resist the power of Assyria.  2 Kings 18:34;  2 Kings 19:13;  Isaiah 37:13 . Identified with Anah , 34 30' N, 42 E.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

Supposed to have been a city of Mesopotamia afterwards called Ana, at a ford of the Euphrates,  2 Kings 18:34;  19:13;  Isaiah 37:13 .

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 2 Kings 18:34 19:13

Holman Bible Dictionary

 2 Kings 18:34

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Heb. Hena', הֵנָע , signif. unknown; Sept. Ἀνά , but in  Isaiah 37:13 blends with the following name into Ἀναεγγουγαμά , q.d. "Ana-near- Ava;" Vulg Ana), a city (apparently of Mesopotamia) mentioned in connection with Sepharvaim and Ivah as one of those overthrown by Sennacherib before his invasion of Judaea ( 2 Kings 18:34;  2 Kings 19:13;  Isaiah 37:13). According to the conjecture, of Busching (Erdbeschr. 11, 263, 757), it is the town which is still called by the Arabs Anah. It lies on the Euphrates, amid gardens, which are rich in dates, citrons, oranges, pomegranates, and other fruits. The modern site is on the right bank of the stream, while the name also attaches to some ruins a little lower down upon the left bank; but between them is "a string of islands" (Chesney's Euphrates Expedition, 1, 53), upon one of which stands a castle. Perhaps, in ancient times, the city lay, for the most part, or entirely, upon this island, for Abulfeda says that "Anah is a small town on an island in the middle of the Euphrates" (see Assemani, Bibl.Orient. 3, 2, 717; Michaelis, Supplem. p. 562). The inhabitants are chiefly Arabs and Jews. Conjecture further identifies Ana with a town called Anat ( ת is merely the feminine termination), which is mentioned in the Assyrian inscriptions as situated on an island in the Euphrates (Fox Talbot's Assyrian Texts, p. 21; Layard's Nineveh And Babylon, p. 355), at some distance below its junction with the Chabour, and which appears as Anatho ( Ἀναθω ) in Isidore of Charax (Mans. Parth. p. 4). Hitzig, however (Comment. On Isaiah 1 . c.), thinks the name an appellation, equivalent to "the Lowland," and in this signification First (Heb. Lexikon, s.v.) concurs (q. d. כּנע ; (See Canaan) ). (See Sepharvaim).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

hē´na ( הנע , hēna‛  ; Ἀνά , Aná ): Named in   2 Kings 19:13 , as one of the cities destroyed by Sennacherib along with Sepharvaim. It does not appear in a similar connection in  2 Kings 17:24 . The text is probably corrupt. No reasonable identification has been proposed. Cheyne (Encyclopaedia Biblica, under the word) says of the phrase "Hena and Ivah" that "underlying this is a witty editorial suggestion that the existence of cities called הנע and עוה respectively has passed out of mind (compare   Psalm 9:6 (7)), for הנע ועוּה , hēna‛ we‛iwwāh , clearly means 'he has driven away and overturned' (so Targum, Symmachus)." He would drop out הנע . Hommel ( Expository Times , IX, 330) thinks that here we have divine names; Hena standing for the Arabic star-name al - han‛a , and Ivvah for al - ‛awwā'u . See Ivah .