Ain ("Fountain")

1. A city given to the Levites in the tribes of Judah and Simeon (Josh. xv. 32, xix. 7, xxi. 16; Neh. xi. 29). The Septuagint reading connects Ain and Rimmon and gives them as one; although the context of I Chron. iv. 32 is in favor of the supposition that they at least were regarded as distinct. The place corresponds to the modern Umm-er Rammamiu (Buhl, "Geogr. d. Alten Palestina," p. 183). 2. A place on the northern boundary of Canaan, west of Riblah. Its identity is the subject of much dispute. Both the Jerusalem Targums refer it to the fountain in the grove of Daphne, near Antioch. Later geographers prefer the source of the Orontes; others identify it with a well at the foot of Mt. Hermon (Num. xxxiv. 11; Bacher, "Ag. Pal. Amor." iii. 659 et seq.).

G. B. L.