Bible Strands
Joshua 15:36
Shaaraim, Adithaim, and Gederah (or Gederothaim)—fourteen cities, along with their villages.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The narrator lists towns within the Judah allotment during the initial territorial distribution. This inventory follows the geographic records of Joshua 15:35 and precedes the continuation of the boundary list in Joshua 15:37.
The words — The text records גְדֵרָה (gederah), literally "wall" or "fence," and גְדֵרֹתָיִם (gederothaim), meaning "two walls." These lexical roots describe the fortified nature of the settlements.
The thread — The same regional network appears when Israel pursues fleeing Philistines to the entrance of Gath (1 Samuel 17:52). The geographic markers reappear in the surrounding boundary lists of Joshua 15:35 and Joshua 15:37.
Why it lands — The passage states that divine promise required specific, surveyed geography to be realized. It asks the reader to acknowledge that inherited land allocation was a concrete administrative act, not merely a theological concept.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And Sharaim, and Adithaim, and Gederah, and Gederothaim; fourteen cities with their villages:
Cross-references
- 1 Samuel 17:52 Then the men of Israel and Judah charged forward with a shout and pursued the Philistines to the entrance of Gath and to the gates of Ekron. And the bodies of the Philistines were strewn along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron.