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HILL.—In Luk_3:5; Luk_23:30 ὅñïò is distinguished from âïõíüò , which in LXX Septuagint commonly stands for ðִּáִòָä , and as representing the lesser eminence, is properly rendered ‘hill.’ Language like that of Luk_23:30 is used in hyperbole to-day by Easterns, of preparing a highway for royalty through a practically roadless country. In two cases (Mat_5:14, Luk_4:29) Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 retains Authorized Version rendering of ὌÑÏ , ‘hill.’ In Luk_9:37 Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 rightly substitutes ‘mountain.’ Perhaps we should read ‘mountain’ also in Mat_5:14. There is nothing to show that any particular city was referred to, but if the words were spoken on any height west of the Lake, Safed, with white walls gleaming in the sun, must have been a striking feature in the landscape. It stands literally ‘on a mountain,’ to the north, nearly 3500 ft. above the Sea of Galilee. Ancient Nazareth, however, was built on the slope of a hill to which ‘mountain’ could hardly apply.
Hill country ( ἡ ὀñåéíÞ , Luk_1:39; Luk_1:65). ἠ ὀñåéíç is a frequent LXX Septuagint equivalent of äָäָã . The use of Heb. äַø closely resembles that of Arab, jebel, which denotes a single height, but also a whole range, as Jebel Libnân; or a definite part of a range, as Jebel Nâblus—this indicating that portion of ‘the mountain’ which is under the government of Nâblus. This expression and Jebel el-Kuds the present writer has often heard on Palestinian lips, without any sense of vagueness or confusion. äָäָã was ‘the mountain’—the central range as distinguished from the plain and the Shephelah on the west, and the ‘Arabah on the east. Jebel el-Kuds, ‘mountain of Jerusalem,’ is perhaps the nearest modern equivalent of ἡ ὀñåéíὴ ôῆò Ἰïõäáßáò , that part of ‘the mountain’ associated with the tribe of Judah. See, further, art. Mountain.
W. Ewing.