NIMRAH (rinn), pure water ; ' Natspd Arevtra). After the Israelites had conquered the country east of the Jordan, the tribes of Reuben and Gad asked permission from Moses to settle there, because they `had a very great multitude of cattle, and they saw the land of Jazer, arc! the land of Gilead, that, behold, the place was a place for cattle.' They mentioned a number of towns in it, and among them was Nintrah (Num. xxxii. 3). These towns appear, from the way in which they are grouped, to have been all near the place of the Israelite encampment in the plain of Moab. It is manifestly the same city which is afterwards mentioned as having been rebuilt by the Gadites, and which is called Beth-nivirah (ver. 36, roz, the house of N. ; ' Na0pd ; Bethnemra). The word Beth is very often prefixed in Hebrew and Arabic to names of places. The prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah, in pronouncing a curse upon Moab, say, 'the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate' (Is. xv. 6 ; Jer. xlviii. 34 ; ; rd ii/cop NEjr.rjpe2µ) ; and they group Nimrim with some of the same places mentioned in connection with it by Moses, as Heshbon and Elealeh ; there can be no doubt, therefore, that the same town is referred to. Various interpretations of these words have been given. Aurivillius explains Nimrinz as an appellative, signifying, as in Arabic, `limpid water' (Dissertations). Grotius takes '0 in the sense of `pastures,' which it will not bear. Light foot suggests that `hot springs' are meant. Bo chart derives the name from 'a panther,' of which Nimrim might be the plural, and lilintrah the feminine form. This is possible ; and it is worthy of note that the name Nimer and Nintreh occur in several localities east of the Jordan (Hand book, pp. 509, 519, 520). The researches of tra
vellers, however, show both the site of the ancient Nintrah, and the meaning of Isaiah's words.
The statements of Eusebius and Jerome regard ing this city are confused and contradictory. In the Onomasticon (s. v, Nenzra), Eusebius says of Nara that it is `a city of Reuben in Gilead, now a large village in Katanaea rti liaravalct), called Abara.' There must be a corruption of the text here ; for Jerome writes the name Nemra, and says it is still a large village, but does not give its locality. Of Nonrim (Eusebius, Nermpl.z), both state that it is now a village called Benamerium, north of Zoar. But under Eethanznaram (Euse bius, B7Apappdv), which they identify with Nimrah, they say that ' it is to this day the village of Beth amnaris in the fifth mile north of Libias.' All these notices may have been originally intended for the same place, and the corruption of the text has created the confusion (Reland, pp. 649, 65o).
About two miles east of the Jordan, near the road from Jericho to es-Salt, are the rums of Nim rim, on the banks of a wady of the same name. The ruins are now desolate, but near them are copious springs and marshy ground. There can be little doubt that this is the site of Nimrah, or Beth-Nimrah, which Joshua locates in the valley (xiii. 27) ; and that these springs are the Waters of Ninirim' on which Isaiah pronounced the curse' (Handbook, p. 308 ; Robinson, B. R., i. 551 ; Burckhardt, Syria, pp. 355, 391).—J. L. P.