Bible dictionaries

Zebedee

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

Easton’s Bible Dictionary & Webster’s 1828 Dictionary

Zebedee - (Easton's Bible Dictionary)

A Galilean fisherman, the husband of Salome (q.v.), and the father of James and John, two of our Lord's disciples (Matt. 4:21; 27:56; Mark 15:40). He seems to have been a man of some position in Capernaum, for he had two boats (Luke 5:4) and "hired servants" (Mark 1:20) of his own. No mention is made of him after the call of his two sons by Jesus.

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)

zeb'-e-de (zibhdi, "the gift of God"; Zebedaios): The father of the apostles James and John (Mr 1:19) and a fisherman on the Sea of Galilee (Mr 1:20), the husband of Salome (Mt 27:56; compare Mr 16:1).

See JAMES; SALOME.

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

(my gift) (Greek form of Zabdi) a fisherman of Galilee, the father of the apostles James the Great and John (Matthew 4:21) and the husband of Salome. (Matthew 27:56; Mark 15:40) He probably lived either at Bethsaida or in its immediate neighborhood. It has been inferred from the mention of his "hired servants," (Mark 1:20) and from the acquaintance between the apostle John and Annas the high priest, (John 18:15) that the family of Zebedee were in easy circumstances. comp. (John 19:27) although not above manual labor. (Matthew 4:21) He appears only twice in the Gospel narrative, namely, in (Matthew 4:21,22; Mark 1:19,20) where he is seen in his boat with his two sons mending their nets.

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

The article in Smith

Translation Words

Definition

Zebedee was a fisherman from Galilee who is known because of his sons, James and John, who were Jesus’ disciples. They are often identified in the New Testament as the “sons of Zebedee.”

Zebedee’s sons were also fishermen and worked with him to catch fish.
James and John quit their fishing work with their father Zebedee and left to go follow Jesus.

(Translation suggestions: How to Translate Names)

Bible References

Word Data

Strong’s: G21990

The original work by unfoldingWord is available from https://www.unfoldingword.org/utw. Bible Strong converted the Markdown and resource links to its dictionary schema and normalized Bible references.

The article in Translation Words