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Synagogue
Excerpt from the Lexham Bible Dictionary, the most advanced Bible dictionary.
A place for assembly and worship that developed in Jewish communities throughout the Mediterranean in the late centuries bc.This article addresses the worship practices and communal dimension of synagogues in the first century ad as well as the ongoing development of synagogues in the second and third centuries ad.
Lexham Bible Dictionary
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The Lexham Bible Dictionary
Synagogue, Critical Issues
Synagogue (συναγωγή, synagōgē). A place for assembly and worship that developed in Jewish communities throughout the Mediterranean in the late centuries bc.This article addresses the worship practices and communal dimension of synagogues in the first century ad as well as the ongoing development of
The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary
Synagogue
SYNAGOGUE. The meeting place and prayer hall of the Jewish people since antiquity. During Second Temple times the term “synagogue” referred both to a group of people and/or a building or institution. Although these notions are not mutually exclusive, it is quite probable that at its inception the synagogue
Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible
Synagogue
Synagogue. Transliteration of the Greek word synagōgē, meaning “a gathering together.” It is used more than 50 times in the NT, mostly for the religious gathering places of Jewish communities in Palestine and throughout the disperson. The word synagōgē is usually the Greek rendering of Hebrew words
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised
Synagogue
Synagogue sinʹə-gog [Gk. synagōgḗ—‘assembly’]. An assembly or congregation of Jews for the purpose of worship and study (Acts 13:43) or the building where such an assembly met (Lk. 7:5). In America, the term is generally not used for Reform congregations, which prefer the term “temple.” I. Names
Tyndale Bible Dictionary
Synagogue
SYNAGOGUE Transliteration of the Greek word sunagoge, meaning “a gathering together.” It is used more than 50 times in the NT, mostly for the religious gathering places of Jewish communities in Palestine and throughout the Dispersion. The word sunagoge is usually the Greek rendering of Hebrew words in
The HarperCollins Bible Dictionary (Revised and Updated)
Synagogue
synagogue (sin´uh-gog; Gk., “a gathering of things” or “an assembly of people”), a congregation of Jews who gather to pray, read scripture, and hear teaching and exhortation based on scripture and the place where such a congregation assembles. Synagogues are not mentioned in the Hebrew Bible or in any
The Wycliffe Bible Encyclopedia
Synagogue
SYNAGOGUE. In Gr. “synagogue” means simply “a place of assembly,” though it came to be the technical name for an immeasurably important institution in Judaism. See Congregation; Worship.Origin. This is a matter of considerable dispute. Jewish tradition is strong that the synagogue is at least as old
The New Bible Dictionary, Third Edition
Synagogue
SYNAGOGUE. In the OT ‘synagogue’ occurs only in Ps. 74:8, av (rsv ‘meeting places’), where it is a translation of Heb. mô ʿēḏ. It is not definite that the reference has its present connotation. The Gk. term synagōgē is used frequently in the lxx for the assembly of Israel, and occurs 56 times in
Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible
Synagogue
SynagogueThe place of assembly used primarily for worship by Jewish communities. Gk. synagōgḗ is originally a secular term denoting a “group of people” or a “collection of things.” There is no clear reference to the synagogue in the OT. The word is commonplace in the NT, where it refers to an actual
Eerdmans Bible Dictionary
Synagogue
Synagogue (Gk. synagōgḗ).† Buildings used for Jewish worship and instruction in the Torah. Synagogues came into being in the Persian period and possibly as early as the Exile. In time the synagogues came to be a new focal point of Judaism as Jews lived farther and farther from their ancestral
The Archaeological Encyclopedia of the Holy Land
Synagogues
SYNAGOGUES It seems that the earliest synagogues—houses of assembly and prayer of Jewish congregations—originated in Babylonia during the exile of the Jews after the destruction of the First Temple and in the Persian period. In the Hellenistic period there were synagogues in many Jewish centers throughout
Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels
Synagogue
SynagogueThe regular Jewish assembly for prayer* and worship.* Jesus is depicted as teaching and performing miracles* in synagogues in Galilee* (Mt 4:23; Lk 4:15), especially in Nazareth (Mt 13:54; Mk 6:2; Lk 4:16) and in Capernaum (Mk 1:21; Lk 7:5; Jn 6:59). The synagogue in the latter city was probably
Key passages
Lk 4:16–20

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and according to his custom he entered into the synagogue on the day of the Sabbath and stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him, and unrolling the scroll he found the place where it …

Ac 13:14–15

And they went on from Perga and arrived at Pisidian Antioch. And they entered into the synagogue on the day of the Sabbath and sat down. So after the reading from the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent word to them, saying, “Men and brothers, if there is any message of …

See also
Topics & Themes
Synagogue of Satan