Well

(1) (be'er; compare Arabic bi'r, "well" or "cistern"; usually artificial: "And Isaac's servants digged (dug) in the valley, and found there a well of springing (margin "living") water" (Gen 26:19); some times covered: "Jacob .... rolled the stone from the well's mouth" (Gen 29:10). Be'er may also be a pit: "The vale of Siddim was full of slime pits" (Gen 14:10); "the pit of destruction" (Ps 55:23).

(2) (bor), usually "pit": "Let us slay him, and cast him into one of the pits" (Gen 37:20); may be "well": "drew water out of the well of Beth-lehem" (2 Sam 23:16).

(3) (pege), usually "running water," "fount," or "source": "Doth the fountain send forth from the same opening sweet water and bitter?" (Jas 3:11); may be "well"; compare "Jacob's well" (John 4:6).

(4) (phrear), usually "pit": "the pit of the abyss" (Rev 9:1); but "well"; compare "Jacob's well" (John 4:11; John 4:12): "Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a well" (the King James Version "pit") (Luke 14:5).

(5) (krene), "wells" (Sirach 48:17), Latin, fons, "spring" (2 Esdras 2:32).

(6) ayin), compare Arabic `ain "fountain," "spring": "the fountain (English Versions of the Bible) which is in Jezreel" (1 Sam 29:1); "In Elim were twelve springs (the King James Version "fountains"] of water" (Num 33:9); "She (Rebekah) went down to the fountain" (the King James Version "well") (Gen 24:16); "the jackal's well" (the English Revised Version "the dragon's well," the King James Version "the dragon well") (Neh 2:13).

(7) (ma`yan), same root as (6); "the fountain (the King James Version "well") of the waters of Nephtoah" (Josh 18:15); "Passing through the valley of Weeping (the King James Version "Baca") they make it a place of springs" (the King James Version "well") (Ps 84:6); "Ye shall draw water out of the wells of salvation" (Isa 12:3).

(8) (maqor), usually figurative: "With thee is the fountain of life" (Ps 36:9); "The mouth of the righteous is a fountain (the King James Version "well") of life" (Prov 10:11); "make her (Babylon's) fountain (the King James Version "spring") dry" (Jer 51:36); "a corrupted spring" (Prov 25:26).

(9) (mabbu`), (nabha`, "to flow," "spring," "bubble up"; compare Arabic (nab`, manba`, yanbu`) "fountain": "or the pitcher is broken at the fountain" (Eccl 12:6); "the thirsty ground springs of water" (Isa 35:7).

(10) (motsa'), "spring," (yatsa'), "to go out," "the dry land springs of water" (Isa 41:18); "a dry land into watersprings" (Ps 107:35); "the upper spring of the waters of Gihon" (2 Chr 32:30).

(11) (nebhekh), root uncertain, reading doubtful; only in Job 38:16, "Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea?"

(12) (tehom), "deep," "abyss"; compare Gen 1:2; translated "springs," the King James Version "depths" (Deut 8:7).

(13) (gal), (galal), "to roll"; compare Gilgal (Josh 5:9); "a spring shut up" (Song 4:12).

(14) (gullah), "bowl," "basin," "pool," same root: "Give me also springs of water. And he gave her the upper sprigs and the nether springs" (Josh 15:19); compare Arabic (kullat), pronounced gullat, "a marble," "a cannon-ball."

As is clear from references cited above, wells and springs were not sharply distinguished in name, though be'er, and phrear are used mainly of wells, and `ayin, ma`yan, motsa', mabbua` and (poetically) maqor are chiefly used of fountains. The Arabic bi'r, the equivalent of the Hebrew be'er, usually denotes a cistern for rain-water, though it may be qualified as bi'r jam`, "well of gathering," i.e. for rain-water, or as bi'r nab`, "well of springing water." A spring or natural fountain is called in Arabic `ain or nab` (compare Hebrew `ayin and mabbua`). These Arabic and Hebrew words for "well" and "spring" figure largely in place-names, modern and ancient: Beer (Num 21:16); Beer-elim (Isa 15:8), etc.; `Ain

(a) on the northeast boundary of Palestine (Num 34:11),

(b) in the South of Judah, perhaps = En-rimmon (Josh 15:32); Enaim (Gen 38:14); Enam (Josh 15:34), etc.

Modern Arabic names with `ain are very numerous, e.g. `Ainul-fashkhah, `Ain-ul-chajleh, `Ain-karim, etc.

See CISTERN; FOUNTAIN; PIT; POOL.

Alfred Ely Day