* Canon Iiicks, Expositor, June 1890, p. 403 ff., takes a different view.
to resemble more closely the Hebrew word foi blood (Dam), and support the play on words in that verse.
The modem name of the town is Dhiban, aboat half an hour N. of 'Ara'ir, which is on the edge of the Amon Valley. It is a dreary and featureless ruin on two adjacent knolls, but has acquired notoriety in consequence of the discovery there of the Moabite Stone. See Tristram, Land of Moab, p. 132 f., Seetzen, Reisen, i. 400, and cf. RIOAB.
2. A town in Judah inhabited in Nchemiah's time by some of the children of Judah (Neh 11"). Perhaps it is the same as Dimonah (Jos 15*'^) among the southernmost cities of Judah. If this identi- fication be correct, it illustrates the passage Is 15* referred to in (1).
Dibon-gad (Nu 33" only) ; see above.
A. T. Chapman.
DIBRI (^yi). — A Danite, grandfather of the blasphemer who was stoned to death, Lv 24''.
DIDRACHMA.— See Money.
DIDYMUS.— See Thomas.
DIE. — To die by a specified form of death is a common expression ; as Caxton (1477), Jason, 42 : ' If I dye not of bodily deth I shal dye of spirituel deth' ; and so Caxton, G. de la Tour, Gv v. : ' Your sone deyd this nyght of a good dethe.' Similar is the phrase Nu 16-'" ' If these men die the common death of all men ' ; and 23" ' Let me die the death of the righteous,' and other examples in which the prep, is omitted. But the expression 'die the death ' is un-English, and is prob. everywhere due to a literal rendering of the Heb. idiom. It occurs Sir 14" ' the covenant from the beginning is, Thot shalt die the death ' (Gr. 6ava.Tif i.Troda.v%, from Gn 2" 'thou shalt surely die,' Heb. mon nio, lit. ' dying thou shalt die,' LXX 9av6.T<f diro8avet<rt>e) ; and Mt 15* ' He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death ' (Gr. SaKdrv TcXtwdTu, lit. ' let him end by death, Vulg. morte moriatur, Cov. 'shal dye the death,' after whom Cran., Gen., Bish., AV, RV ; but Rhem. 'dying let him dye '). The phrase ' die the death ' is not uncommon in Shaks., and is generally interpreted as meaning ' die the death appointed for the particular otl'ence ' ; but it is probably a reminiscence of the phrase in Mt,* and means 'let him assuredly die.' Thus Midi. Night's Dream, I. i. 65 —
• Either to die the death, or to abjur« For ever the society of men.'
J. Hastings. DIET (fr. Gr. Slaira, mode of life, through late Lat. dieta) is used in AV in the obsol. sense of ' an allowance of food,' Jer 52" ' And for his [Jehoia- chin's] diet, there was a continual diet given him ' (Tcij noii; 'inrint;, RV 'allowance,' as AV in par. passage 2 K 25*". In Pr 15" the same Heb. is tr. 'dinner,' with 'portion' in RVm ; in Jer 40' 'victuals,' RVm 'an allowance'). The Eng. word is rare in this sense, and is not used in any previous version here. In the more usual sense it occurs Sir 30^ ' A cheerful and good heart will have a care of his meat and diet ' ; cf. Chaucer {Prol. 435) —
* Of his diet measurable was he. For it was of no superfiuilee.
But of greet norianng and digestible.*
J. HA.sTraos. DIKLAH (•iSi?'!, AcicXd).— The name of a son of Joktan (Gn 10", 1 Ch 1-'), probably representing a nation or community. The Aramaic name for the river "Tigris (Dildath) is practically identical with this form, aiid hence the conjecture ol Michaelis, that Diklah signified the dwellers on
• Cf. Macbeth, it. iii. Ill : ' Died everj- day (he lived," a leool lection, no doubt, of 1 Co 15" ' I die daily.'
DILAN
DIONTSIA
607
that riTer, is not wholly improbable ; we know, however, of no community so called, and the home of such of the Joktanidne as can be identified with certainty is in Arabia. The word dakal (in Syr. dekli', ' palm ') is well kno«Ti in Arabic, and signifies dry dat«s of bad quality ; as they possess no cohesive power, to 'scatter like rlnhal' is a proverbial phrase. The geo'rraphcr Yakut knows of a place in Yemamah called Daknlnh, ' where there were palm trees,' of too little importance to be connected with the son of Joktan ; moreover, the corresponding form in Hebrew should be Dek&l&b rather than Uiklah. The names imme- diately preceding and following Diklah give no clue to its identihcation. D. S. Margoliouth.
DILAN (li'^-i), Jos 15".— A town of Judah in the same group with Lachish and Eglon. The mte is unknown. C. R. CONDEE.
DILIGENCE. — 'Derived from diligo, to love, "diligence " reminds us that the secret of true in- dustry in onr work is love of that work ' (Trench, Study of Words, p. 314). But as diligence has gradually forgotten the rock whence it was hewn. It has also lost some of its proper meaning. It is a synonym now for ' industry ' ; but formerly it was also a syn. for 'carefulness,' since our love of a work may express itself as readily in care or caution as in perseverance. Hence Wyclifs tr. of 1 Ti 3' ' If ony man kan not goueme his hous, how schal he haue diligence of the chirche of God ' ; and Coverdale's tr. of Pr 4^ ' Kepe thine hert with all diligence,' which is retained in AV and RV. Cf. Kncx, Historie, 15 : 'He declared what diligence the ancients took to trjy true miracles from false.' Diligent and diliqentli/ had the same range of meaning. Thus Job 42° Cov. ' I have geuen dili- gent eare unto the' (Gen., AV 'I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear,' RV ' I had heard,' etc. — thus reversing Coverdale's meaning) ; AV 1611 Title, 'with the former Translations dili- gently compared and revised ' ; Shaks. Tempest, Ul. L 42—