Bible dictionaries

Orion

What Bible dictionaries say about “Orion”, one article after the other.

Easton’s Bible Dictionary & Webster’s 1828 Dictionary

Orion - (Easton's Bible Dictionary)

Heb. Kesil; i.e., "the fool", the name of a constellation (Job 9:9; 38:31; Amos 5:8) consisting of about eighty stars. The Vulgate renders thus, but the LXX. renders by Hesperus, i.e., "the evening-star," Venus. The Orientals "appear to have conceived of this constellation under the figure of an impious giant bound upon the sky." This giant was, according to tradition, Nimrod, the type of the folly that contends against God. In Isa. 13:10 the plural form of the Hebrew word is rendered "constellations."

Orion - (Webster's 1828 Dictionary)

ORI'ON, n. [Gr. unfortunately accented by the poets on the second syllable.]

A constellation in the southern hemisphere, containing seventy eight stars.

Matthew George Easton, Easton’s Bible Dictionary; Noah Webster, American Dictionary of the English Language (1828)

The article in Easton + Webster 1828

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE 1915)

o-ri'-on: A brilliant constellation dedicated to Nimrod or Merodach.

See ASTRONOMY, sec. II, 11.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia — James Orr, general editor and contributors; CrossWire SWORD module ISBE 2.2

The article in ISBE 1915

Smith’s Bible Dictionary

(the giant), a large and bright constellation of 80 stars, 17 large ones, crossed by the equinoctial line. It is named after a mythical personage of the Greeks, of gigantic stature and "the handsomest man in the world." The Arabs called it" the giant," referring to Nimrod, the mighty hunter who was fabled to have been bound in the sky for his impiety. (Job 9:9) Also alluded to in (Job 38:31)

William Smith; revised by F. N. Peloubet and M. A. Peloubet; CrossWire SWORD module Smith 1.3

The article in Smith