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Judah, persons in the Bible

(Encyclopedia)Judah jo͞oˈdə [key]. 1 In the Bible he is the fourth son of Jacob and Leah and the eponymous ancestor of one of the 12 tribes of Israel. In the Book of Genesis, Judah emerges as a leader. With Reub...

Begin, Menachem

(Encyclopedia)Begin, Menachem mĕnäˈkhĕm bāˈgĭn [key], 1913–92, Zionist leader and Israeli prime minister (1977–83), b. Russia. He became (1938) leader of a Zionist youth movement in Poland, where he also...

Quetta

(Encyclopedia)Quetta kwĕˈtə [key], city (1998 pop. 560,307), capital of Baluchistan prov., W central Pakistan, at an altitude of c.5,500 ft (1,675 m), ringed by mountains. Deriving its name from the Pashto word ...

Koestler, Arthur

(Encyclopedia)Koestler, Arthur kĕstˈlər [key], 1905–83, English writer, b. Budapest of Hungarian parents. Koestler spent his early years in Vienna and Palestine. He was an influential Communist journalist in B...

Nahmanides

(Encyclopedia)Nahmanides nähmänˈĭdēz [key], 1194–c.1270, Jewish scholar, exegete, and kabbalist, b. Spain. He wrote commentaries on the Hebrew Bible and the Talmud. A mystic, he rejected part of Maimonides' ...

Suppiluliumas

(Encyclopedia)Suppiluliumas, fl. 14th cent. b.c., Hittite king (1390–54 b.c.). The greatest statesman-warrior in Hittite history, he left on his death an empire that was stronger, though not richer, than Egypt. H...

Sisera

(Encyclopedia)Sisera sĭsˈərə [key], in the Bible. 1 Canaanite captain, defeated by Deborah and Barak and murdered by Jael. 2 Family in the return to Palestine. ...

Russian Far East

(Encyclopedia)Russian Far East, formerly Soviet Far East, federal district (1989 est. pop. 7,941,000), c.2,400,000 sq mi (6,216,000 sq km), encompassing the entire northeast coast of Asia and including the Sakha Re...

Lapland

(Encyclopedia)Lapland lăpˈlăndˌ [key], Finn. Lappi, Nor. Lapland, Swed. Lappland, vast region of N Europe, largely within the Arctic Circle. It includes the Norwegian provinces of Finnmark and Troms and part of...

Qinghai

(Encyclopedia)Qinghai or Tsinghai both: chĭngˈhīˈ [key], province (2010 pop. 5,626,722), c.279,000 sq mi (722,797 sq km), W China. Xining is the capital. Qinghai lies in the Tibetan highlands at an average elev...