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Dictionaries
Holman Bible Dictionary
• Gulf
• Aqaba, Gulf of
Hastings' BibleDictionary
• Gulf
Hastings' NT Dictionary
• Gulf
King James Dictionary
• Gulf
Vines' Expository Dictionary
• Gulf
Encyclopedias
1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
• Gulf of Akaba
• Gulf of Arta
• Gulf of Bothnia
•   (only first 3 shown)
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
• Gulf
McClintock and Strong's Bible Encyclopedia
• Gulf
The Nuttall Encyclopedia
• Arta, Gulf of
• Carpentaria, Gulf of
• Darien, Gulf of
•   (only first 3 shown)
The Catholic Encyclopedia
• Gulf of St. Lawrence
Lexicons
• ܗܰܘܬ݂ܳܐ
• χάσμα

( χάσμα , chásma , "a chasm," "vent," "a gaping opening" - a great interval; from χαίνω , chaı́nō , "to gape" or "yawn"): Occurs only in Luke 16:26 , "Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed" (compare "afar off" in Luke 16:23 ). This is very different from, though it probably reflects, the rabbinical conception of the separation between the two compartments of Hades (Sheol) by "a hand's breadth," "a wall," or even, later, "a chasm," as the parable can be given here only a figurative significance, and is of purely ethical import. The fundamental difference between the Rich Man and Lazarus lies not in their conditions but in their characters. For "besides all this" ( Luke 16:26 ) the Revised Version, margin gives "in all these things," thus implying that the moral distinctions which exist in this life (Luke 16:25 ) become more pronounced ("fixed") in the next world, and the "gulf" is impassable in the sense that a change of condition will not necessarily produce a change of soul. See also ABRAHAM 'S BOSOM; HADES .