Pond
Pond is the rendering in the A. V. of אֲגָם, agam (literally a collection of water), in Ex 7:19; Ex 8:15, where it probably denotes the putrescent reservoirs or swampy pools left by the inundation of the Nile (Sept. διώρυγες, Vulg. paludes). Again, in Isa 19:10, נֶפֶשׁ אִגמֵי, which the A.V. translates "ponds for fish," following the Vulg. "lacunas ad capiendos pisces," Diodati and Luther, is rendered by the Sept. τὰς ψυχὰς πονέσουσι. This rendering is supported by the authority of Gesenius, Vatablus, and Ewald, alle Lohnarbeiter (עשִֹׁי שֶׂכֶר.= "they that earn wages"), sind seelenbetrübt; אָגִם being taken as equivalent to עָנִם(Job 30:25), "to be sad." Many interpreters, however, think that it designates fish-ponds. We have abundant evidence from the paintings in the tombs that the Egyptians were celebrated for their fish-ponds, and it appears that almost every villa possessed one, where the master of the house occasionally amused himself in fishing. The Jews, it seems, likewise constructed similar ponds, as in describing his bride in the Canticles (Song 7:4) Solomon says, "Thine eyes are like the fish- pools in Heshbon." SEE FISH. The word occurs several times of marshy pools, in contradistinction to the dry sands of the desert (Ps 107:35; Ps 114:8); "standing water" (Isa 35:7; Isa 41:18), "a pool." Such pools being commonly reedy, it is rendered "reeds" (Jer 51:32). SEE POOL.
