Bible Dictionary
Nitre
No, or No-Amon, was the Egyptian city of Thebes, a major city on both sides of the Nile. The prophets used its defeat as a warning of coming judgment.
Definition
Biblical nitre was probably natron, or native carbonate of soda, rather than modern saltpetre. It was used as a cleansing substance and reacts vigorously with vinegar.
Biblical Usage
Nitre illustrates the violent reaction of soda when vinegar is poured upon it. Jeremiah uses it in a comparison showing that ordinary washing cannot remove persistent guilt.
Historical Background
Natron occurs in deposits and soda lakes of Egypt, as well as in Syria and Asia Minor. It was used from early times for washing linen and other cleansing purposes.
Scripture References
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
(Prov. 25:20; R.V. marg., “soda”), properly “natron,” a substance so called because, rising from the bottom of the Lake Natron in Egypt, it becomes dry and hard in the sun, and is the soda which effervesces when vinegar is poured on it. It is a carbonate of soda, not saltpetre, which the word generally denotes (Jer. 2:22; R.V. “lye”).
Smith's Bible Dictionary
Mention of this substance is made in (Proverbs 25:20)—“and as vinegar upon nitre”—and in (Jeremiah 2:26) The article denoted is not that which we now understand by the term nitre i.e. nitrate of Potassa—“saltpetre”—but the nitrum of the Latins and the natron or native carbonate of soda of modern chemistry. Natron was and still is used by the Egyptians for washing linen. The value of soda in this respect is well known. This explains the passage in Jeremiah. Natron is found In great abundance in the well-known soda lakes of Egypt.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>ni'-ter (nether; nitron): Nitre as used in the King James Version does not correspond to the present use of that term. Nitre or niter is now applied to sodium or potassium nitrate. The writer has in his collection a specimen of sodium carbonate, called in Arabic naTrun, which was taken from the extensive deposits in Lower Egypt where it is found as a deposit underneath a layer of common salt. Similar deposits are found in Syria and Asia Minor. This is probably the "nitre" of the Bible. the American Standard Revised Version has rendered niter "lye" in Jer 2:22, and "soda" in Pr 25:20. Soda or lye has been used as a cleansing agent from earliest times. It effervesces energetically, when treated with an acid; hence, the comparison in Pr 25:20 of the heavy-hearted man roiled by the sound of singing to the sizzling of soda on which vinegar has been poured.</p><p>See VINEGAR.</p><p>James A. Patch</p>