NOD

Land of , the country to which Cain withdrew after the murder of Abel. As the precise situation of this country cannot po ibly be known, so it has given rise to much ingenious speculation. All that we are told of it is, that it was on the east of Eden,” or, as it may be rendered, before Eden;” which very country of Eden is no sure guide for us, as the situation of that also is disputed. But, be it on the higher or lower Euphrates, (see Eden ,) the land of Nod which stood before it with respect to the place where Moses wrote, may still preserve the curse of barrenne pa ed on it for Cain’s sake, namely, in the deserts of Syria or Arabia. The Chaldee interpreters render the word Nod, not as the proper name of a country, but as an appellative applied to Cain himself, signifying a vagabond or fugitive, and read, He dwelt a fugitive in the land.” But the Hebrew reads expre ly, He dwelt in the land of Nod.”