Bible Strands
Joshua 15:38
Dilan, Mizpeh, Joktheel,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Joshua records the territorial allotment for Judah to the tribal leaders as the land division proceeds. The narrative lists these settlements as part of the inheritance granted to the tribe.
The words — The passage names Mizpah (הַמִּצְפֶּה / hammitzpeh), literally "the watchtower," and Joktheel (יָקְתְאֵל / yaqte'el), literally "consecrated to God." These terms function as proper nouns marking specific locations within the Judahite border.
The thread — The name Joktheel reappears in 2 Kings 14:7 when Amaziah captures a city and renames it after his victory. The term Mizpah surfaces elsewhere as a gathering place for Israel, such as in Judges 20:1.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition of how territorial boundaries and sacred names anchor Israel's history to specific geography. Readers must trace how these place names preserve memory of divine provision and military outcomes without adding theological commentary.
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 Dilean, and Mizpeh, and Joktheel,
Cross-references
- 2 Kings 14:7 Amaziah struck down 10,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt. He took Sela in battle and called it Joktheel, which is its name to this very day.
- Genesis 31:48 Then Laban declared, “This mound is a witness between you and me this day.” Therefore the place was called Galeed.
- Judges 20:1 Then all the Israelites from Dan to Beersheba and from the land of Gilead came out, and the congregation assembled as one man before the LORD at Mizpah.
- Judges 21:5 The Israelites asked, “Who among all the tribes of Israel did not come to the assembly before the LORD?” For they had taken a solemn oath that anyone who failed to come up before the LORD at Mizpah would surely be put to death.
- 1 Samuel 7:5 Then Samuel said, “Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray to the LORD on your behalf.”
- 1 Samuel 7:16 Every year he would go on a circuit from Bethel to Gilgal to Mizpah, judging Israel in all these places.
- 1 Samuel 10:17 After this, Samuel summoned the people to the LORD at Mizpah