(Encyclopedia) Lot, in the Book of Genesis, the son of Abraham's brother Haran. Lot settled in Sodom and received a warning of its destruction. As he fled with his family, his wife, disobeying God's…
(Encyclopedia) Lake of the Woods, 1,485 sq mi (3,846 sq km), c.70 mi (110 km) long, on the U.S.-Canada border in the pine forest region of N Minn., SE Man., and SW Ont. More than two thirds of the…
(Encyclopedia) patriarchpatriarchpāˈtrēärk [key], in biblical tradition, one of the antediluvian progenitors of the race as given in Genesis (e.g., Seth) or one of the ancestors of the Jews (e.g.,…
(Encyclopedia) Bel and the Dragon, customary name for chapter 14 of the Book of Daniel, a passage included in the Septuagint and the Apocrypha. It was written possibly in the 1st cent. b.c. as a…
(Encyclopedia) U, 21st letter of the alphabet, corresponding to the Greek upsilon [Gr.,=u without the aspirate]. Until the late Middle Ages the capital was V, the minuscule u, no distinction being…
(Encyclopedia) Benedict the Black, Saint, d. 1589, Sicilian friar. Born a slave, he became a hermit and later a Franciscan lay brother. Although illiterate, his humility and extraordinary powers as…
(Encyclopedia) Washington-on-the-Brazos, former town, S central Tex., on the Brazos River; settled 1821. It was the scene of the Texas declaration of independence from Mexico on Mar. 2, 1836, and in…