BIBLE DICTIONARY + WORD STUDY
How to read this: there is rarely one magic “true meaning” hidden behind an English word. A lexicon records a word’s semantic range. The intended meaning is narrowed by grammar, sentence, author, historical usage and context.
HEBREW / ARAMAIC · H6891
tsa.re.tan — Zarethan
§ Zarthan or Zaretan = "their distress" a place in the Jordan valley where the river parted for Israel to pass over for the conquest of Canaan
3 tagged verse occurrences · see every occurrence →When the Hebrews crossed the Jordan, as soon as the feet of the priests were dipped in the water, the flow of the stream was arrested. The point of arrest was the “city of Adam beside Zaretan,” probably near Succoth, at the mouth of the Jabbok, some 30 miles up the river from where the people were encamped. There the water “stood and rose upon an heap.” Thus the whole space of 30 miles of the river-bed was dry, that the tribes might pass over (Josh. 3:16, 17; comp. Ps. 104:3).
Source: Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897). Historical dictionary wording reflects the scholarship and language of its era.
