Bethnimrah
Beth-nim'rah (Heb. Beyth Nimrah', בֵּית נִמרָה, house of limpid water; Sept. ἡ Ναμβρά and Βηθναμρά, with many var. readings), one of the "fenced cities" on the east of the Jordan taken and "built" by the tribe of Gad (Nu 32:36), and described as lying "'in the valley" (בָּעֵמֶק) beside Beth-haran (Jos 13:27). In Nu 32:3, it is named simply NIMRAH SEE NIMRAH (q.v.). The "Waters of Nimrim," which are named in the denunciations of Moab by Isaiah (Isa 15:6) and Jeremiah (Jer 48:34), must, from the context, be in the same locality. SEE NIMBIM. By Eusebius and Jerome (Onom. s.v. Βηθναβράν, Bethamnaram) the village (called by them Bethnabris, Βηθναβρίς, Bethamnaris) is said to have been still standing five miles north of Livias (Beth-haran). The Talmudists call it also Beth Nimrin (בֵּית נִמרִין, comp. Targum on Nu 32:3) or Beth-Namer (בֵּית נָמֵר,? panther-house," Peah, 4, 5; comp. Schwarz, p. 232). The name still survives in the Nahr- Nimrin, the Arab appellation of the lower end of the Wady Shoaib, where the waters of that valley discharge themselves into the Jordan close to one of the regular fords a few miles above Jericho (Burckhardt, Syria, p. 355). It has been seen by Seetzen (Reisen, 1854, 2:318) and Robinson (Researches, 2, 279), but does not appear to have been explored, and all that is known is that the vegetation is very thick, betokening an abundance of water. The Wady Shoaib runs back up into the eastern mountains as far as es-Salt. Its name (the modern form of Hobab?) connects it with the wanderings of the children of Israel, and a tradition still clings to the neighborhood that it was down this valley they descended to the Jordan (Seetzen, 2:377).
It seems to have escaped notice how nearly the requirements of BETHABARA SEE BETHABARA (q.v.) are met in the circumstances of Bethnimrah — its abundance of water and its situation close to "the region round about Jordan" (ἡ περίχωρος τοῦ Ι᾿ορδάνου, i.e. the CICCAR of the O.T., the Oasis of Jericho), immediately accessible to "Jerusalem and all Judaea" (Joh 1:28; Mt 3:5; Mr 1:5) by the direct and ordinary road from the capital. Add to this that in the Sept. the name of Bethnimrah is found very nearly assuming the form of Bethabara — Βαιθαναβρά, Βηθαβρά, Βεθαραβά (see Holmes and Parsons' text).
