The Fallible · Synthetic · Study Bible
Judah’s Inheritance
Joshua 15:1–12 — Judah’s Inheritance. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.
1Now the allotment for the clans of the tribe of Judah extended to the border of Edom, to the Wilderness of Zin at the extreme southern boundary:
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
hag·gō·w·rāl lə·miš·pə·ḥō·ṯām lə·maṭ·ṭêh bə·nê yə·hū·ḏāh way·hî ’el- gə·ḇūl ’ĕ·ḏō·wm miḏ·bar- ṣin neḡ·bāh miq·ṣêh ṯê·mān
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-the-lot for-their-clans, for-the-tribe-of the-sons-of Judah, came to the-border-of Edom, the-wilderness-of Zin southward, from-the-extremity-of the-south (Teman).
Where the English smooths the original
The lot of Judah came first, in token of the pre-eminence of that tribe over all the others; and its destined superiority thus received the visible sanction of God.Reads the order of the drawing as itself a divine ratification of Judah's primacy.
Of Judah — Whose lot came out first by God’s disposition, as a note of his pre-eminency above his brethren. To the border of Edom — Which lay south-east from Judah’s portion. Judah and Joseph were the two sons of Jacob on whom Reuben’s forfeited birthright devolved. Judah had the dominion entailed upon him, and Joseph the double portion.Locates Judah's precedence in the transfer of Reuben's forfeited birthright (Genesis 49).
The word tribe here is, as might be expected from the context מַטֶה and not שֶּׁבֶט . Even to the border of Edom. The literal translation, which makes the passage clearer, is, "the border of Edom, the wilderness of Zin towards the dry region ( נֶגְבָּה ) from the extreme limit of the south תֵימָן . The latter of these words, derived from יָמִין "right hand," being the position of the south when regarded from the point of view of a man looking eastward, denotes the southward directionThe unit's most philological voice: recovers maṭṭeh vs. shêḇeṭ and the two south-words negeb and Teman.
And there was (i.e., fell, or came out; cf. Joshua 16:1 ; Joshua 19:1 ) the lot to the tribe of Judah according to its families to the frontier of Edom (see at Numbers 34:3 ), to the desert of Zin southward, against the extreme southRecovers the bare "there was / fell" sense of way·hî that BSB's "extended" obscures.
2Their southern border started at the bay on the southern tip of the Salt Sea,
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
lā·hem ne·ḡeḇ gə·ḇūl way·hî hal·lā·šōn hap·pō·neh min- neḡ·bāh miq·ṣêh yām ham·me·laḥ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-to-them the-south-border was from-the-extremity-of the-Salt Sea, from-the-tongue that-turns southward.
Where the English smooths the original
Hebrew, the tongue; either a creek or arm of that sea, or a promontory, which by learned authors is sometimes called a tongue. Every sea is salt, but this had an extraordinary saltness, the effect of that fire and brimstone which destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.Both the "tongue" image and the theological reading of the Salt Sea's saltness as the residue of Sodom's judgment.
The Hebrew word signifies tongue, by which it means either the arm of the sea that comes into the land, or a rock, or cape that goes into the sea.The 1599 marginal gloss (a) on "bay" — recovering lâshôwn, "tongue."
more exactly, the tongue which turneth southward (see margin), “fro the tonge of it that biholdith to the south,” Wyclif. By this “tongue” is meant the southern portion of the Dead Sea reaching from the peninsulaPairs the Hebrew "tongue" with Wyclif's Middle English and the Lisan peninsula.
Whoever was the writer of the Book of Joshua, these details prove him to have had an accurate acquaintance with the geography of Palestine. He was no priestly inventor of fables attached to the temple at Jerusalem.Turns the very minuteness of the boundary into an argument for the text's eyewitness authenticity.
3proceeded south of the Ascent of Akrabbim, continued on to Zin, went over to the south of Kadesh-barnea, ran past Hezron up to Addar, and curved toward Karka.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·yā·ṣā ’el- min·ne·ḡeḇ lə·ma·‘ă·lêh ‘aq·rab·bîm wə·‘ā·ḇar ṣi·nāh wə·‘ā·lāh min·ne·ḡeḇ lə·qā·ḏêš bar·nê·a‘ wə·‘ā·ḇar ḥeṣ·rō·wn wə·‘ā·lāh ’ad·dā·rāh wə·nā·saḇ haq·qar·qā·‘āh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-it-went-out to the-south-of the-Ascent-of-Scorpions, and-crossed-over to Zin, and-went-up from-south of-Kadesh-barnea, and-crossed-over to-Hezron, and-went-up to-Addar, and-turned-round toward-Karka.
Where the English smooths the original
Maaleh-akrabbim—Hebrew, "the ascent of scorpions"; a pass in the "bald mountain" (see on [193]Jos 11:17), probably much infested by these venomous reptiles.Recovers the literal "ascent of scorpions" behind the transliterated Akrabbim.
De Saulcy suggests it was the Wâdy Zouara , and testifies to “the scorpions” there found under every pebble. S. and P . 113, n.Field testimony that scorpions still haunt the pass that bears their name.
The literal meaning of Maaleh-acrabbim is Scorpion Rise (see Judges 1:36 ).Names the same Judges 1:36 cross-reference the Verifier independently ranks for the rare shared lexeme.
which two places being near to one another, as is very likely, are put together, as if one place, and called Hazaraddar, Numbers 34:4Harmonizes the Hezron-Addar pair here with the single "Hazar-addar" of the parallel border in Numbers 34:4.
4It proceeded to Azmon, joined the Brook of Egypt, and ended at the Sea. This was their southern border.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·‘ā·ḇar ‘aṣ·mō·w·nāh wə·yā·ṣā na·ḥal miṣ·ra·yim wə·hå̄·yå̄h tō·ṣə·’ō·wṯ hag·gə·ḇūl yām·māh zeh- yih·yeh lā·ḵem ne·ḡeḇ gə·ḇūl
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-it-crossed-over to-Azmon, and-went-out to-the-Brook-of Egypt, and-the-goings-out-of the-border were toward-the-Sea. This shall-be to-you the-south border.
Where the English smooths the original
“This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth” was the instruction to Joshua, and in describing the border of Judah, he is really describing also the southern border of all Israel; and he does it throughout in language very like that of Moses in Numbers 34. But Moses wrote it in the second person and in the future tense throughout; Joshua wrote it in the third person and in the past tense, with this one exception, in which he seems to have unconsciously adopted the phraseology of the lawgiver instead of the historian.The unit's sharpest literary observation: the lone second-person clause betrays Joshua quietly quoting Moses' charge.
the outgoings of that coast were at the sea; the Mediterranean sea; or to the west, as the Targum; this was the utmost border of the tribe of Judah this way: this shall be your south coast; of the lot that fell to the tribe of Judah.Fixes the western terminus of the southern line at the Mediterranean.
The historian here quotes the directions given to Moses in Numbers 34 , with the evident intention of pointing out that the south border of the children of Israel coincided with that of the tribe of Judah.States the same Numbers 34 dependence the Verifier confirms by the rare shared lexeme Tsin.
5The eastern border was the Salt Sea as far as the mouth of the Jordan. The northern border started from the bay of the sea at the mouth of the Jordan,
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
qê·ḏə·māh ū·ḡə·ḇūl yām ham·me·laḥ ‘aḏ- qə·ṣêh hay·yar·dên ṣā·p̄ō·w·nāh ū·ḡə·ḇūl lip̄·’aṯ mil·lə·šō·wn hay·yām miq·ṣêh hay·yar·dên
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-the-east border was the-Salt Sea unto the-extremity-of the-Jordan. And-the-north border was from-the-bay (the-tongue) of-the-sea, from-the-extremity-of the-Jordan.
Where the English smooths the original
the end—that is, the mouth of the Jordan.Glosses "end of Jordan" as the river's mouth at the Dead Sea.
The end of Jordan, i.e. the place where Jordan runs into the Salt Sea.The terse Poole gloss fixing the eastern corner of the border.
And the east border was the salt sea, even unto the end of Jordan,.... To the place where Jordan fell into it; so that this border was the whole length of the salt sea, which Josephus says (y) was five hundred eighty furlongsSupplies the measured length of the eastern frontier from Josephus.
their border in the north quarter was from the bay of the sea ] i. e. from the embouchure of the Jordan. “The tonge of the see vnto the same flood of Jordan,” Wyclif.Again pairs the Hebrew "tongue" with Wyclif's rendering at the northern corner.
6went up to Beth-hoglah, proceeded north of Beth-arabah, and went up to the Stone of Bohan son of Reuben.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·‘ā·lāh hag·gə·ḇūl bêṯ ḥā·ḡə·lāh wə·‘ā·ḇar miṣ·ṣə·p̄ō·wn lə·ḇêṯ hā·‘ă·rā·ḇāh wə·‘ā·lāh hag·gə·ḇūl ’e·ḇen bō·han ben- rə·’ū·ḇên
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-the-border went-up to-Beth-hoglah, and-crossed-over north-of Beth-arabah; and-the-border went-up to-the-Stone-of-Bohan, son-of Reuben.
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The stone of Bohan - This stone perhaps commemorated some deed of valor belonging to the wars of Joshua (compare 1 Samuel 7:12 ). The stone was erected on the slope of a hill (see the marginal reference), no doubt one of the range which hounds the Jordan valley on the west.Reads the boundary-stone as a memorial of valor, comparing Samuel's Ebenezer.
stone of Bohan the son of Reuben—the sepulchral monument of a Reubenite leader, who had been distinguished for his bravery, and had fallen in the Canaanite war.Takes the stone as a grave-monument of a fallen Reubenite warrior.
The stone of Bohan; a place so called, not from Bohan’s dwelling there, (for the Reubenites had no portion on this side Jordan,) but from some notable exploit which he did there, though it be not recorded in Scripture.Resolves why a Reubenite name marks the west bank: an exploit, not a residence.
Which was a mark to part their countries.The 1599 marginal gloss (c): the stone's plain function as a boundary-marker between tribes.
7Then the border went up to Debir from the Valley of Achor, turning north to Gilgal, which faces the Ascent of Adummim south of the ravine. It continued along the waters of En-shemesh and came out at En-rogel.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
hag·gə·ḇūl wə·‘ā·lāh də·ḇi·rāh mê·‘ê·meq ‘ā·ḵō·wr pō·neh wə·ṣā·p̄ō·w·nāh ’el- hag·gil·gāl ’ă·šer- nō·ḵaḥ lə·ma·‘ă·lêh ’ă·ḏum·mîm ’ă·šer min·ne·ḡeḇ lan·nā·ḥal hag·gə·ḇūl wə·‘ā·ḇar ’el- mê- ‘ên še·meš wə·hā·yū ṯō·ṣə·’ō·ṯāw ’el- ‘ên rō·ḡêl
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-the-border went-up to-Debir from-the-Valley-of-Achor, and-northward turning to-Gilgal, which is-opposite the-Ascent-of-Adummim, which is-south of-the-ravine; and-the-border crossed-over to the-waters-of En-shemesh, and-its-goings-out were at En-rogel.
Where the English smooths the original
The going up to Adummim - Rather, "the ascent or pass of Adummim" (compare Joshua 15:3 , margin), on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. Its name signifies "red" and is explained by Jerome as given because of the frequent bloodshed there by robbers. This road is the scene of the parable of the Good Samaritan.Recovers the meaning "red" and identifies the pass as the road of the Good Samaritan.
Debir; a differing place from that Debir , Numbers 15:15 , which was near Hebron, and remote from Judah’s border; as also from that Debir, Joshua 13:26 , which was beyond Jordan.Distinguishes this Debir from two other towns of the same name, guarding against confusion.
En-rogel—"the fuller's fountain," on the southeast of Jerusalem, below the spot where the valleys of Jehoshaphat and Hinnom unite.Locates En-rogel at the junction of the Kidron and Hinnom valleys below Jerusalem.
Maaleh Adummim, which is correctly explained in the Onom. (s. v. Adommim) as ἀνάβασις πύῤῥηων, ascensus rufforum, "was formerly a small villa, but is now a heap of ruins, which is called even to the present day Maledomim - on the road from Aelia to Jericho" (Tobler).Grounds the "ascent of the red ones" in the ancient Onomasticon and the surviving Arabic name.
8From there the border went up the Valley of Ben-hinnom along the southern slope of the Jebusites (that is, Jerusalem) and ascended to the top of the hill that faces the Valley of Hinnom on the west, at the northern end of the Valley of Rephaim.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
hag·gə·ḇūl wə·‘ā·lāh gê ḇen- hin·nōm ’el- min·ne·ḡeḇ ke·ṯep̄ hay·ḇū·sî hî yə·rū·šā·lim wə·‘ā·lāh hag·gə·ḇūl ’el- rōš hā·hār ’ă·šer ‘al- pə·nê ḡê- hin·nōm yām·māh ’ă·šer ṣā·p̄ō·nāh biq·ṣêh ‘ê·meq- rə·p̄ā·’îm
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-the-border went-up to-the-Valley-of-Ben-Hinnom, to the-shoulder-of the-Jebusite from-the-south — she is Jerusalem; and-the-border went-up to the-top-of the-hill that-is opposite the-Valley-of-Hinnom westward, which is at-the-northern-end-of the-Valley-of-the-Rephaim.
Where the English smooths the original
After these places had been defiled by Josiah, Tophet and the whole valley of Hinnom were held in abomination by the Jews, and the name of the latter was used to denote the place of eternal torment Matthew 5:22 . The Greek term Gehenna (γεέννα geenna) is in fact formed from the Hebrew הנם גיא gay' hı̂nnôm, "valley of Hinnom."Traces the philological road from this border-valley to the Gospel word Gehenna.
The same is Jerusalem: it may seem hence, and from Deu 33:12 Joshua 18:28 Judges 1:21 , that Jerusalem, properly, or at least principally, belonged to Benjamin; and yet it is ascribed to Judah also here, Joshua 15:63 , and elsewhere, either because a part of the city was allotted to Judah; or because the Benjamites needed or desired the help and conjunction of this powerful tribe of Judah, for the getting and keeping of this most important place.Faces the Judah/Benjamin double-claim on Jerusalem and the divided history of the city's borders.
The south side of the Jebusite. Literally, the shoulder of the Jebusite from (or on ) the south (see 1 Kings 6:8 ; 1 Kings 7:39 , margin). Thus Jerusalem lay to the north of the border, in the tribe of Benjamin.Recovers the literal "shoulder" and places Jerusalem just north of Judah's line.
The valley of Ben-hinnom, or Ben-hinnom (the son or sons of Hinnom), on the south side of Mount Zion, a place which was notorious from the time of Ahaz as the seat of the worship of Moloch ( 2 Kings 23:10 ; 2 Chronicles 28:3 ; 2 Chronicles 33:6 ; Jeremiah 7:31 , etc.)Names the Molech-worship of Hinnom and the very 2 Kings 23:10 the Verifier ranks as the verbal thread.
9From the hilltop the border curved to the spring of the Waters of Nephtoah, proceeded to the cities of Mount Ephron, and then bent around toward Baalah (that is, Kiriath-jearim).
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
mê·rōš hā·hār hag·gə·ḇūl wə·ṯā·’ar ’el- ma‘·yan mê nep̄·tō·w·aḥ wə·yā·ṣā ’el- ‘ā·rê har- ‘ep̄·rō·wn wə·ṯā·’ar hag·gə·ḇūl ba·‘ă·lāh hî qir·yaṯ yə·‘ā·rîm
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-the-border was-traced from-the-top-of the-hill to the-spring-of the-Waters-of-Nephtoah, and-went-out to the-cities-of Mount Ephron, and-the-border was-traced to-Baalah — she is Kiriath-jearim.
Where the English smooths the original
called Kirjathbaal, or the city of Baal, Joshua 15:60 ; where it is probable there was a temple of Baal; and when it came into the hands of the Israelites, they changed its name to Kirjathjearim, or the city of the woods, because of the great number of trees which grew about it; for which reason it might have been pitched upon by the Heathens for their idolatrous serviceReads the double name as a record of redemption: the city of Baal becomes the city of forests.
Kirjath-jearim is by Conder identified as ’Arma (spelt ’Erma on the Ordnance map), four miles east of Beth-shemesh ( ’Ain Shemes, or Shems ) .Conder's Ordnance-Survey identification of Kirjath-jearim.
We have already met with Kirjath-jearim as one of the four cities of the Gibeonites (above, ch. Joshua 9:17 ). It is famous as the spot, ( a ) behind which the band of Danites pitched their camp before their expedition to Laish ( Jdg 18:12 ); ( b ) where the Ark remained upwards of twenty years ( 1 Samuel 7:2 ), and ( c ) whence it was removed by David to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite ( 1 Chronicles 13:5-6 ).Names the very 1 Chronicles 13 episode the Verifier ranks as the verbal thread for Baalah.
Was drawn. Or, extended. The fountain of the waters of Nephtoah.Recovers "drawn / extended" for the rare delineation-verb tâʼar.
10The border curled westward from Baalah to Mount Seir, ran along the northern slope of Mount Jearim (that is, Chesalon), went down to Beth-shemesh, and crossed to Timnah.
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hag·gə·ḇūl wə·nā·saḇ yām·māh mib·ba·‘ă·lāh ’el- har śê·‘îr wə·‘ā·ḇar ’el- miṣ·ṣā·p̄ō·w·nāh ke·ṯep̄ har- yə·‘ā·rîm hî ḵə·sā·lō·wn wə·yā·raḏ bêṯ- še·meš wə·‘ā·ḇar tim·nāh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-the-border turned-round from-Baalah westward to-Mount Seir, and-crossed-over to the-shoulder-of Mount Jearim northward — she is Chesalon — and-went-down to-Beth-shemesh, and-crossed-over to-Timnah.
Where the English smooths the original
Mount Seir is not the well-known range of Edom. The name ( "shaggy mountain") is applicable to any rugged or well-wooded hill. Here it probably denotes the range which runs southwestward from Kirjath-jearim to the Wady Surar. Mount Jearim, i. e. "woody mountain," is through its other name, Chesalon, identified with the modern "Kesla".Recovers "shaggy" for Seir and "woody" for Jearim — the ridge named for its forest.
Mount Seir; not that of Edom, but another so called from some resemblance it had with that in quality. Bethshemesh: there were divers cities of this name; this in Judah here, and Joshua 21:16 2 Kings 14:11 , another in Issachar, and a third in Naphtali, Joshua 19:22 ,38 .Distinguishes this Seir and this Beth-shemesh from their namesakes elsewhere.
Timnah , or Timnath , or Thimnathah ( Joshua 19:43 ), now Tibnah , a village about two miles west of ’Ain-Shems , from which Samson fetched his wife ( Jdg 14:1 ; Jdg 14:5 ), and in the vineyards of which, without anything in his hand, he killed the lion ( Jdg 14:5-6 ).Ties Timnah to the scenes of Samson's marriage and the slaying of the lion.
Beth-shemesh (i.e., sun-house), a priests' city in the territory of Judah ( Joshua 21:16 ; 1 Chronicles 6:44 ), is the same as Ir-shemesh ( Joshua 19:41 ), a place on the border of Dan, where the ark was deposited by the Philistines ( 1 Samuel 6:9 .), and where Amaziah was slain by Joash ( 2 Kings 14:11-12 ; 2 Chronicles 25:21 ).Gathers the later history of Beth-shemesh: the Ark's resting-place and Amaziah's defeat.
11Then it went out to the northern slope of Ekron, curved toward Shikkeron, proceeded to Mount Baalah, went on to Jabneel, and ended at the Sea.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
hag·gə·ḇūl wə·yā·ṣā ’el- ṣā·p̄ō·w·nāh ke·ṯep̄ ‘eq·rō·wn wə·ṯā·’ar hag·gə·ḇūl šik·kə·rō·w·nāh wə·‘ā·ḇar har- hab·ba·‘ă·lāh wə·yā·ṣā yaḇ·nə·’êl wə·hā·yū tō·ṣə·’ō·wṯ hag·gə·ḇūl yām·māh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-the-border went-out to the-shoulder-of Ekron northward, and-was-traced toward-Shikkeron, and-crossed-over to-Mount Baalah, and-went-out to-Jabneel; and-the-goings-out-of the-border were at-the-Sea.
Where the English smooths the original
Ekron . This important Philistine city (see Joshua 13:3 ) lay close to the northern border of Judah. As a matter of fact, however, the tribe of Judah never succeeded in permanently occupying this territory, which only fell under their yoke during the reigns of David and Solomon.Marks the honest gap between the allotted border and the territory actually held.
Ekron is Akir (on sheet 16). Here we are in the Shephêlah, or plain of the sea-coast. Jabneel is Yebnah, west of Ekron, nearer the sea.Places the closing landmarks in the Shephelah on the Ordnance-Survey sheets.
“went out unto Jabneel” the modern village of Yebna or Ibna, about two miles from the Sea, 11 miles south of Jaffa , and four from Ækir (Ekron), represents the ancient Jabneel or Jabneh ( 2 Chronicles 26:6 ), or, in its Greek garb, Jamnia ( 1Ma 4:5 ; 1Ma 5:58 ).Identifies Jabneel with Jamnia, later famous in the Maccabean wars and rabbinic history.
then bent to Shichron, passed over to Mount Baalah, and went out to Jabneel." Shichron is possibly Sugheir, an hour to the south-west of Jebna (Knobel).Offers a cautious identification for the obscure landmark Shikkeron.
12And the western border was the coastline of the Great Sea. These are the boundaries around the clans of the descendants of Judah.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
yām ū·ḡə·ḇūl ū·ḡə·ḇūl hag·gā·ḏō·wl hay·yām·māh zeh gə·ḇūl sā·ḇîḇ lə·miš·pə·ḥō·ṯām bə·nê- yə·hū·ḏāh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-the-west border was the-Great Sea and-its-coast. This is the-border of-the-sons-of Judah round-about, by-their-clans.
Where the English smooths the original
That is, thus the lot was bounded on all sides in the first draught of it. Which being afterward found too large, it was contracted into a narrower compass, that more room might be made for the tribe of Simeon, who had part of this lot consigned to them; as some other places were added out of it to the tribes of Benjamin and Dan, as will afterward appear.Marks this border as a "first draught," later contracted to make room for Simeon, Benjamin, and Dan.
this is the coast of the children of Judah round about according to their families; but being too large, some part of it was afterwards given to Simeon, and some particular cities of it were given to Dan and Benjamin: it was bounded on the west by the tribes of Simeon and Dan towards the Mediterranean sea, and by the tribe of Benjamin on the north, and by the wilderness of Paran on the south, and by the dead sea and Jordan on the east.Sums the four-sided circuit and notes the later redistribution of Judah's generous portion.
the west border ] was formed by the Mediterranean Sea. to the great sea ] From Jabneel the boundary continued to the Mediterranean Sea along the Wady es Surah . and the coast thereof ] or borders thereof ; see above, ch. Joshua 13:23 ; Joshua 13:27 , and comp. Numbers 34:6 .Fixes the western wall at the Great Sea and cross-references the national border of Numbers 34:6.
The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.
AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.
The chapter opens not on a battlefield but on an urn. The first word, hag·gō·w·rāl ("the lot"), is rooted in a pebble — a small cast stone — and the whole map that follows is, in the word itself, the verdict of that stone. Joseph Benson insists the casting "was transacted with great seriousness and solemnity, in God's presence, with prayer and appeal to him for the decision of the matter." That Judah's stone fell first is read by every voice as more than sequence. Jamieson, Fausset & Brown: "The lot of Judah came first, in token of the pre-eminence of that tribe over all the others; and its destined superiority thus received the visible sanction of God." Benson traces the root of that primacy back to Genesis: "Judah and Joseph were the two sons of Jacob on whom Reuben's forfeited birthright devolved. Judah had the dominion entailed upon him, and Joseph the double portion." And the first landmark named is telling — "the border of Edom" (v. 1), the country of Jacob's estranged twin. Judah's inheritance begins where it brushes against the brother who sold his birthright; the chosen line is mapped against the rejected one. The Pulpit Commentary, the unit's most careful philologist, recovers what the English buries: the word for tribe is maṭṭeh ("branch, staff") "and not shêḇeṭ," and the south is named twice over — negeb for "the dry region" and Teman for the direction reckoned from "a man looking eastward." Even the compass here is a body facing the dawn.
What follows is, to the modern eye, a survey; to the Hebrew, a journey. The keyword gᵉbûwl ("border") is rooted in "a cord (as twisted)" — a measuring-line — and it is given verbs of motion: it went out, crossed over, went up, turned, fetched a compass. The line is a living thing that walks the edge of the gift. And it walks through a landscape thick with memory and menace. The first named place of the south is Maʻălêh ʻAqrabbîym, which Jamieson, Fausset & Brown render plainly: "Hebrew, 'the ascent of scorpions'; a pass... probably much infested by these venomous reptiles" — and Cambridge adds De Saulcy's field-testimony "to 'the scorpions' there found under every pebble." The border runs past Kadesh-barnea, the very station of Israel's faithless turning-back (v. 3), and climbs out of the Valley of Achor — the Valley of Trouble — where Achan's sin was judged and buried under stones (v. 7; cf. Joshua 7:26). Then it brushes Adummim, "the red ones," which Albert Barnes identifies as "the scene of the parable of the Good Samaritan," its name "explained by Jerome as given because of the frequent bloodshed there by robbers." The geography of the inheritance is no neutral plat; the cord is drawn through scorpion-passes and blood-roads and valleys of buried sin. The gift is real land, with a history of trouble already written into its place-names.
One verse in this dry survey detonates. The border "went up to the Valley of Ben-Hinnom" along the southern shoulder of "the Jebusite — she is Jerusalem" (v. 8). Albert Barnes traces the road this place-name would travel: "After these places had been defiled by Josiah, Tophet and the whole valley of Hinnom were held in abomination by the Jews, and the name of the latter was used to denote the place of eternal torment Matthew 5:22 . The Greek term Gehenna... is in fact formed from the Hebrew gay' hı̂nnôm, 'valley of Hinnom.'" Keil & Delitzsch confirm it became "the seat of the worship of Moloch (2 Kings 23:10; ... Jeremiah 7:31)." So Judah's surveyor, tracing a property-line around 1400 B.C., walks the cord along a ravine whose name the Lord Jesus would one day make the word for the fire that is not quenched. And note what the same verse says of the city on whose shoulder the line runs: it is still "the Jebusite," un-conquered, named in Judah's own land-grant only as an enemy stronghold (cf. v. 63). The future city of God enters Judah's inheritance first as a fortress not yet taken — and the valley on its edge enters the Bible as the future name of damnation. The geography is a parable the surveyor could not have read.
The northern and western lines run out to the coastal plain and the Great Sea, and here the text quietly tells the truth about itself. The cord encloses Ekron, chief of the Philistine cities — yet the Pulpit Commentary admits "the tribe of Judah never succeeded in permanently occupying this territory, which only fell under their yoke during the reigns of David and Solomon." The ideal border, drawn by the lot, outran the historical hold of the sword. The unit even names its own provisionality: the closing summary calls this "the border of the sons of Judah round about" (v. 12), but Joseph Benson notes the lot, "being afterward found too large, it was contracted into a narrower compass, that more room might be made for the tribe of Simeon." The cord that began "for their clans" (v. 1) and ends "by their clans" (v. 12) frames a gift that is at once divinely fixed and humanly adjusted — sure in its source, flexible in its administration. Along the way the line passes redeemed names (Baalah, "city of Baal," renamed Kiriath-jearim, "city of forests," where the Ark would rest twenty years, per Cambridge) and tragic ones (Timnah, where Samson would find his Philistine wife). The whole twelve-verse circuit is the tracing of one twisted cord around a real, troubled, partly-held, oath-given land.
A fallible reading, offered to be tested (Sola Scriptura). Twelve verses of place-names look like the least "spiritual" page in Scripture — and that is exactly their point. The God who promises in soaring oaths (Genesis 15; Joshua 1:1–9) keeps those promises in surveyor's detail: a tongue of the Salt Sea, the shoulder of a Jebusite hill, a memorial stone raised over one forgotten Reubenite's exploit. The promise to the fathers does not float; it lands, on dirt, with corners. Yet the same passage refuses triumphalism. The cord runs through scorpion-passes, the Valley of Trouble, and the ravine that will name hell; it encloses cities (Ekron, even Jerusalem) that Judah did not yet hold. The map is larger than the conquest — and the text says so without flinching. Read this way, Joshua 15 is a theology of the "already and not yet" written in geography: the land is truly given (the lot has fallen, the border is drawn) and not yet truly possessed (the Jebusite holds his shoulder of the hill, the Philistine his coast). Every believer who has been given an inheritance "incorruptible and undefiled" (1 Peter 1:4) and yet still wars for ground lives inside this chapter's tension. The pebble has fallen; the cord is drawn; the full possession waits. Matthew Henry, surveying the same allotments, lets the survey end where it must: "In due time all God's people are settled." That is the promise the surveyor's stakes drive into the ground — not that the trouble is past, but that the portion is sure. This is the tool's own synthesis and may be wrong; weigh it against the text.
The lot has fallen and the cord is drawn — yet the Jebusite still holds his hill: the land is given, and not yet wholly taken. (An interpretive line from the synthesis layer, not a verse of Scripture.)
AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.
The southern line of Judah in Joshua 15:1–4 reproduces, point for point, the southern boundary of all Canaan that Moses laid down in Numbers 34:3–5. The decisive marker is the wilderness of Tsin (Zin), a place-name found in only nine verses of the Hebrew Bible — a rarity that makes the overlap a genuine verbal dependence, not a chance of common words; it is joined by negeb ("south") and gᵉbûwl ("border"). Charles Ellicott saw the literary fingerprint: in describing Judah's border Joshua "is really describing also the southern border of all Israel," and the lone second-person clause of v. 4 ("this shall be to you") betrays him "unconsciously" quoting "the phraseology of the lawgiver instead of the historian." Judah's edge is Israel's edge; the tribe drawn first carries the whole nation's southern wall.
Joshua 15:1 · Numbers 34:4 · Numbers 34:3
basis: shared rare lexeme H6790 Tsin (9 vv) plus H5045 negeb (98 vv) and H1366 gᵉbûwl (196 vv) — Verifier-computed; rarity of Tsin confirms the verbal link to the national border of Numbers 34
The Stone of Bohan son of Reuben (Joshua 15:6), a memorial rock that fixes Judah's northern line, reappears in Joshua 18:17 as a landmark on Benjamin's southern line — the identical border traced from the opposite direction. The binding lexeme is the proper name Bôhan (H932), found in only two verses of the entire Hebrew Bible; with it travel ʼeben ("stone") and Rᵉʼûwbên ("Reuben"). Such a rare shared name is the surest kind of verbal link. Keil & Delitzsch read the direction-words as the proof: here the border "went up" to the stone (from the lower Jordan valley), while in Joshua 18:17 it "went down" — the same line, the same monument, walked one way for Judah and the reverse way for Benjamin. The seam between two tribes is fixed by one warrior's forgotten stone.
Joshua 15:6 · Joshua 18:17
basis: shared rare lexeme H932 Bôhan (2 vv) plus H68 ʼeben (239 vv) and H7205 Rᵉʼûwbên (68 vv) — Verifier-computed; the two-verse rarity of Bôhan confirms the shared boundary-monument
The Valley of Ben-Hinnom, a mere border-landmark in Joshua 15:8, surfaces again in 2 Kings 23:10 as Tophet — the high place where Judah "caused his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech," which Josiah defiled. The shared lexemes are the proper name Hinnôm (H2011), found in only eleven verses, and gayʼ ("valley/gorge"). The rarity of Hinnom makes this a true verbal thread. Keil & Delitzsch name the descent: the valley became "notorious from the time of Ahaz as the seat of the worship of Moloch (2 Kings 23:10; ... Jeremiah 7:31)." A line drawn around a property at the conquest runs along the ravine that Israel's apostasy would turn into a furnace for its own children — and that the Septuagint and the Gospels would name Gehenna.
Joshua 15:8 · 2 Kings 23:10 · Jeremiah 7:31
basis: shared rare lexeme H2011 Hinnôm (11 vv) plus H1516 gayʼ (54 vv) — Verifier-computed; the rare place-name Hinnom binds the border-valley to the Molech-worship of 2 Kings 23:10
Judah's northern line "went up toward Debir from the Valley of Achor" (Joshua 15:7), and that valley is named only because of what was buried there. The same ʻê·meq ʻā·ḵō·wr — the Valley of Trouble — was christened at Joshua 7:26, where Achan, who took of the devoted thing at Jericho, was stoned and burned and heaped under stones, "and the LORD turned from the fierceness of his anger; wherefore the name of that place was called, The valley of Achor." John Gill states the plain fact: it is "the valley of Achor; where Achan was put to death, and had its name from thence." The binding lexeme is the proper name ʻÂkôwr (H5911), found in only five verses of the whole Hebrew Bible, joined by ʻêmeq ("valley") — a rarity that makes this a genuine verbal link, not a chance of common words. The theological weight is quiet but real: the cord of the inheritance is drawn up out of the very ground where Israel's sin was judged and its trouble buried. And the prophets would not let the name rest there: Hosea promises that the LORD will "give her the valley of Achor for a door of hope" (Hosea 2:15). The boundary of the gift runs up from the place of the curse — the geography itself a figure of trouble turned to a doorway.
Joshua 15:7 · Joshua 7:26 · Hosea 2:15
basis: shared rare lexeme H5911 ʻÂkôwr (5 vv) plus H6010 ʻêmeq (64 vv) — Verifier-computed; the five-verse rarity of the name Achor binds the inheritance-border to the burial-place of Achan in Joshua 7:26. (The Hosea 2:15 'door of hope' link is the prophetic re-use of the same name, a thematic extension, not part of the computed Strong's basis.)
Joshua 15:9 marks the border at "Baalah — she is Kiriath-jearim," the same town named in 1 Chronicles 13:6, where David goes up "to Baalah, that is, to Kiriath-jearim" to bring back the Ark of God. The two passages share two distinctive place-names: Baʻălâh (H1173, only five verses) and Qiryath Yᵉʻârîym (H7157, nineteen verses) — a rare pairing that confirms the verbal link. Cambridge gathers the town's history: it was "where the Ark remained upwards of twenty years (1 Samuel 7:2), and whence it was removed by David to the house of Obed-Edom (1 Chronicles 13:5–6)." The old Canaanite "city of Baal" — renamed by Israel "city of forests" (Gill) — becomes the long resting-place of the glory of God. A border-name on a survey is the future home of the Ark.
Joshua 15:9 · 1 Chronicles 13:6 · 1 Samuel 7:2
basis: shared rare lexemes H1173 Baʻălâh (5 vv) and H7157 Qiryath Yᵉʻârîym (19 vv) — Verifier-computed; the paired rare place-names confirm the link to David's recovery of the Ark
The "Ascent of Scorpions" (Maaleh-acrabbim) of Joshua 15:3 recurs in Judges 1:36 as the boundary of the Amorites "from the ascent of Akrabbim." The link rests on the proper compound Maʻălêh ʻAqrabbîym (H4610), found in only three verses of the whole Bible — about as rare as a place-name can be, joined by gᵉbûwl ("border"). The Pulpit Commentary itself flags the cross-reference, glossing "the literal meaning of Maaleh-acrabbim is Scorpion Rise (see Judges 1:36)." The same scorpion-pass that marks Judah's southern corner marks the limit of unconquered Amorite country in the days of the Judges — one stinging landmark fixed in the land's geography across the generations.
Joshua 15:3 · Judges 1:36 · Numbers 34:4
basis: shared rare lexeme H4610 Maʻălêh ʻAqrabbîym (3 vv) plus H1366 gᵉbûwl (196 vv) — Verifier-computed; the three-verse rarity of the scorpion-pass name confirms the verbal link
Joshua 15 is written in a fixed surveyor's idiom that binds it to the boundary-chapters of the other tribes. Two features mark the genre: the rare draftsman's verb tâʼar ("to delineate, draw," H8388, only six verses; vv. 9, 13), and the technical terminus-noun tôwtsâʼâh ("goings-out, outgoings," H8444, twenty-three verses; vv. 4, 7, 11). The Verifier links Judah's text by these lexemes to the borders of Zebulun (Joshua 19:13, sharing tâʼar) and Naphtali (Joshua 19:33, sharing gᵉbûwl and tôwtsâʼâh). We tier this thread structural deliberately, because the claim it makes is a claim about genre — a single editorial hand casting every tribe's allotment in one consistent boundary-prose — and the words that recur most are common surveyor's vocabulary, not citation. In strict honesty the Verifier rates two of the underlying pairs higher than the thread does: Joshua 15:11 and 19:33 also share the place-name Yabnᵉʼêl (H2995, only two verses), and 15:9 and 19:13 share the six-verse tâʼar — rarities that, taken alone, would score as verbal links. We keep the badge at structural because the broad thesis (one shared idiom across all the tribal surveys) is a pattern-claim, not a quotation; the rare-name overlaps are the threads of that pattern, not a quoted sentence. Under-claiming is the safer reading of a genre that simply repeats itself.
Joshua 15:11 · Joshua 19:33 · Joshua 19:13
basis: shared lexemes H1366 gᵉbûwl (196 vv) and H8444 tôwtsâʼâh (23 vv) across the tribal surveys — Verifier-computed; tiered structural for the genre-claim though two underlying pairs (15:11→19:33 sharing rare H2995 Yabnᵉʼêl, 2 vv; 15:9→19:13 sharing H8388 tâʼar, 6 vv) would alone score verbal. The thread's claim is a shared boundary-prose formula, not a quotation.
AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.
The Valley of Hinnom, traced as a property-line in Joshua 15:8, is the place from which the Lord Jesus draws His most solemn warning. The Greek Geenna — "Gehenna" — is, as Albert Barnes shows, "formed from the Hebrew gay' hı̂nnôm, 'valley of Hinnom,'" the ravine "used to denote the place of eternal torment Matthew 5:22." When Christ says it is better to lose an eye than for the whole body to be cast into Gehenna (Matthew 5:22, 29; Mark 9:43–48), He names this very valley on Judah's edge — long since the furnace of Molech, defiled by Josiah, become a smouldering refuse-heap. This is not a verbal-quotation link but a typological one, and honestly so: it is a cross-Testament connection (Greek Gospel to Hebrew survey) with no shared Strong's lexeme — the bridge is the place itself, not a cited word. The figure is sobering rather than consoling: the inheritance of the saints is bordered, in its own geography, by the future name of judgment. The Savior who alone can deliver from Gehenna took its name from a line on Judah's map.
Joshua 15:8 · Matthew 5:22 · Mark 9:43
That Judah's lot fell first (Joshua 15:1), "in token of the pre-eminence of that tribe over all the others" (Jamieson, Fausset & Brown), and that its primacy rested on the dominion "entailed upon" Judah when Reuben forfeited his birthright (Joseph Benson, recalling Genesis 49:8–10), is read by the historic church as a quiet pointer to the One who would come from this tribe. Jacob's blessing — "the scepter shall not depart from Judah... until Shiloh come" (Genesis 49:10) — sets the dominion in Judah; here that dominion takes the form of the first and largest inheritance in the land. The Apocalypse names the term of the figure: "the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed" (Revelation 5:5). The tribe whose pebble fell first is the tribe of the King; the portion drawn before all others is the soil from which the Root of David would spring. This is a structural and typological reading (no verbal-quotation claim across the Testaments), but an ancient and widely-held one: the precedence of Judah in the land foreshadows the precedence of Judah's Lion over all.
Joshua 15:1 · Genesis 49:10 · Revelation 5:5
Joshua 15 holds together two things the New Testament will name as a pattern: a land truly given by lot and oath (vv. 1, 12) and yet not truly possessed — the Jebusite still holds Jerusalem's shoulder (v. 8; cf. v. 63), the Philistine still holds Ekron, which "the tribe of Judah never succeeded in permanently occupying" (Pulpit Commentary). Hebrews reads exactly this gap christologically: "if Jesus [Joshua] had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day... There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God" (Hebrews 4:8–9). Joshua's surveyors drew a border larger than Joshua's conquest could fill — and that very shortfall, the writer to the Hebrews argues, is the standing evidence that the true and final inheritance waits in Christ. The believer who has been given an inheritance "reserved in heaven" (1 Peter 1:4) and yet still contends for ground stands inside the unresolved geography of this chapter. This reading is application of the text's own "already / not yet," widely held, not a claim that any New Testament verse quotes Joshua 15.
Joshua 15:8 · Hebrews 4:8 · 1 Peter 1:4
The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.
Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:
A boundary-list, treated honestly as one. This unit is a survey, not a discourse — twelve verses of frontier-prose. The synthesis layer therefore concentrates where the Hebrew genuinely carries more than the English: the personification of the border (a twisted cord, gᵉbûwl, given verbs of walking, turning, and "going out"); the recurring body-imagery (the tongue of the sea, the shoulder of the hill, the mouth of the Jordan); the doubled south-words (negeb the dry region, Teman the right-hand direction); and the place-names whose meanings the transliteration hides (Scorpion-Ascent, Valley of Trouble, the Red Ones, the Valley of the Giants, the Valley of Hinnom). None of these are imposed; all are recovered from the parses and named by the public-domain voices (chiefly the Pulpit Commentary, Barnes, and Keil & Delitzsch).
Every cross-reference here is Hebrew-to-Hebrew and Verifier-grounded. The six "verbal / quotation — confirmed" threads all rest on rare shared lexemes computed by the Verifier — most decisively the two-verse name Bôhan (Joshua 15:6 → 18:17), the three-verse Maʻălêh ʻAqrabbîym (15:3 → Judges 1:36), the five-verse ʻÂkôwr (15:7 → 7:26, the Valley of Trouble), the five-verse Baʻălâh with nineteen-verse Qiryath Yᵉʻârîym (15:9 → 1 Chronicles 13:6), the nine-verse Tsin (15:1 → Numbers 34:4), and the eleven-verse Hinnôm (15:8 → 2 Kings 23:10). The one structural thread (the shared boundary-prose with Joshua 19) is tiered down deliberately, and that is the honest direction: the broad claim is about genre, not citation — even though, in strict fact, two of its underlying pairs (the two-verse Yabnᵉʼêl shared with Joshua 19:33, the six-verse tâʼar shared with 19:13) would each score verbal if taken alone. We let the thesis, not the rarest stray word, set the tier, and we prefer the lower one. The Hosea 2:15 "door of hope" attached to the Achor thread is flagged in that thread's basis as a prophetic re-use, not part of the computed Strong's link.
Both Christ readings across the Testaments are typological, and labeled so. The Gehenna figure (Joshua 15:8 → Matthew 5:22) and the Lion-of-Judah figure (Joshua 15:1 → Revelation 5:5) are cross-Testament (Greek ↔ Hebrew); by rule they cannot rest on a shared Strong's number, and the Verifier confirms "no shared original-language lexeme" for the Gehenna pair. We therefore present them as figural and ancient — the Hinnom/Gehenna identity is a matter of philology (Barnes) rather than a quoted word, and the Judah-precedence-to-Judah's-Lion reading is a widely-held type, not an assertion of quotation. The note in Joshua 15:8 that Jerusalem appears here only as "the Jebusite," un-conquered, is the textual ground for the third Christ reading's "already / not yet," which Hebrews 4:8 reads of Joshua himself.
✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)