Hill, Hill-Country
HILL, HILL-COUNTRY.These terms in RV [Note: Revised Version.] represent Heb. (gibah, har) and Greek names for either an isolated eminence, or a table-land, or a mountain-range, or a mountainous district. Gibah denotes properly the large rounded hills, mostly bare or nearly so, so conspicuous in parts of Palestine, especially in Judah. Cf. Gibeah of Saul, of Phinehas, of the foreskins, of Moreh, of Hachilah, of Ammah, of Gareb, and of Elohim. har is to gibah as the genus is to the species, and includes not merely a single mound, but also a range or a district. It is usually applied to Zion. It is especially the description of the central mountainous tract of Palestine reaching from the plain of Jezreel on the N. to the Negeb or dry country in the S.; the Shephlah or lowlands of the S. W.; the midbar or moorland, and the arabah or steppes of the S. E. The best-known haror hill-country in Palestine is the hill-country of Ephraim, but besides this we hear of the hill-country of Judah (e.g. in Jos 11:21), the hill-country of Naphtali (Jos 20:7), the hill-country of Ammon (Deu 2:37), and of Gilead (Deu 3:12). Among the eminences of Palestine as distinct from hill-districts are Zion, the hill of Samaria, the triple-peaked Hermon, Tabor, and Carmel.
W. F. Cobb.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Hill, Hill Country
hilkun-tri: The common translation of three Hebrew words:
(1) , gibhah, from root meaning to be curved, is almost always translated hill; it is a pecuIiarly appropriate designation for the very rounded hills of Palestine; it is never used for a range of mountains. Several times it occurs as a place-name, Gibeah of Judah (Jos 15:20, Jos 15:57); Gibeah of Benjamin or Saul (Jdg 19:12-16, etc.); Gibeah of Phinehas (Jos 24:33 margin), etc. (see GIBEAH). Many such hills were used for idolatrous rites (1Ki 14:23; 2Ki 17:10; Jer 2:20, etc.).
(2) , har, frequently translated in the King James Version hill, is in the Revised Version (British and American) usually translated mountain (compare Gen 7:19; Jos 15:9; Jos 18:15 f, and many other references), or hillcountry. Thus we have the hill-country of the Amorites (Deu 1:7, Deu 1:19, Deu 1:20); the hill-country of Gilead (Deu 3:12); the hill-country of Ephraim (Jos 17:15, Jos 17:16, Jos 17:18; Jos 19:50; Jos 20:7, etc.); the hill-country of Judah (Jos 11:21; Jos 20:7; Jos 21:11; 2Ch 27:4, etc.; and ( , he oreine) Luk 1:39, Luk 1:65); the hill-country of Naphtali (Jos 20:7). For geographical descriptions see PALESTINE; COUNTRY; EPHRAIM; JUDAH, etc.
(3) , ophel, is translated by hill in 2Ki 5:24; Isa 32:14; Mic 4:8, but may possibly mean tower or fort. In other passages the word occurs with the article as a place-name. See OPHEL.