PARADISE is an old Persian word (JPairidaeza in the Vendidad) meaning an enclosure, a park. The Greeks use the word in the form Παράδεισος of the parks of the Persian kings, and it was borrowed also by the Hebrews in the form D"∏∩≡> (Cant. iv. 13; Eccles, ii. 5; Neh. ii. 8; A. V., “orchard,” “forest”). The Septuagint chose the Greek form to translate the “garden” of Genesis ii.; other Greek and Latin versions followed them, and thus “paradise” became the usual ecclesiastical name for the garden of Eden, which has been spoken of under Eden. Now, as Paradise in this sense was the residence of man before he sinned, it was natural enough that theological speculation as to the dwelling-place of the righteous, after death, or in the future glory, should attach itself to the account given in Genesis of the original habitation of righteous Adam, and borrow not only the name but in some measure also the conception of paradise as there described. This took place in more than one way, as we see from the Jewish apocalyptic literature, and especially from the book of Enoch. Thus we find (1) the idea that the old Paradise still exists in a secret part of the earth, and that Enoch, Elijah, and other elect and righteous persons dwell there. This is the foundation of the doctrine of the earthly paradise, which passed into Christianity—being supposed to find confirmation in the New Testament, especially in Luke xxiii. 43. The earthly paradise, as developed by Christian fancy, is the old garden of Eden, which lay in the far East beyond the stream of Ocean, raised so high on a triple terrace of mountain that the deluge did not touch it. It is the residence of certain departed saints, and the pictures drawn of it are coloured with classical reminiscences of ...

according to the original meaning of the term, whether it be of Hebrew, Chaldee, or Persian derivation, signifies, a place enclosed for pleasure and delight.” The LXX., or Greek translators of the Old Testament, make use of the word paradise, when they speak of the garden of Eden, which Jehovah planted at the creation, and in which he placed our first parents. There are three places in the Hebrew text of the Old Testament where this word is found, namely, Neh. ii, 8; Cant. iv, 13; Eccles. ii, 5. The term paradise is obviously used in the New Testament, as another word for heaven; by our Lord, Luke xxiii, 43; by the Apostle Paul, 2 Cor. xii, 4; and in the Apocalypse, ii, 7. See EDEN.