the Hebrew word Aram translated in the KJV and elsewhere as the English word Syria |
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In the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of Old Testament, the Hebrew word Aram is translated into Greek as Surias, which is translated into English as Syria.
F.T. Schumacher (The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, Volume 1, Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1962, page 185) writes of the term Aram:
Most frequently used as a singular collective for the Arameans, an important Semitic people living throughout the Mesopotamian and Syrian areas in many scattered tribes and settlements... The land of Aram is somewhat indefinite, since it is not a political or geographical unit but only indicates a concentration of Aramean population. Roughly for the OT [Old Testament], it covers the territory from beyond the Jordan and NE of Palestine around the Fertile Crescent into the upper Tigris-Euphrates Valley... In literature referring to the days of the monarchy, Aram means primarily Damascus and surrounding territory, even when no express indication is given.
Copyright
1996-2003 Robert Nguyen Cramer
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