Bible Strands
Joshua 19:41
The territory of their inheritance included Zorah, Eshtaol, Ir-shemesh,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Joshua records the division of the land by lot, assigning the seventh allotment to the clans of the tribe of Dan. This list of towns appears between the opening of the seventh lot and its continuation in the following verse.
The words — The phrase גְּב֣וּל נַחֲלָתָ֑ם (ge.Vul na.cha.la.Ta/m) literally means "territory of their inheritance," marking the boundary lines assigned to the tribe. The conjunction וַ/יְהִ֖י (va/y.Hi) functions here as "and it was" or "and it included," linking the towns to the allotted portion.
The thread — These same towns appear in Joshua 15:33 as part of the Shephelah allotment and are repeatedly noted in Judges 13:2 and Judges 13:25 as the region between Zorah and Eshtaol where Manoah's family resided and the Spirit stirred Samson.
Why it lands — The verse requires the reader to acknowledge that tribal inheritance was defined by specific, named boundaries rather than abstract claims. It demands recognition that God's allocation of land establishes the geographic foundation for Israel's subsequent history and judgment.
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 the coast of their inheritance was Zorah, and Eshtaol, and Ir–shemesh,
Cross-references
- Joshua 15:33 These were in the foothills: Eshtaol, Zorah, Ashnah,
- Judges 13:2 Now there was a man from Zorah named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, whose wife was barren and had no children.
- Judges 13:25 And the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him at Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
- Judges 16:31 Then Samson’s brothers and his father’s family came down, carried him back, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. And he had judged Israel twenty years.
- Judges 18:2 So the Danites sent out five men from their clans, men of valor from Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy out the land and explore it. “Go and explore the land,” they told them. The men entered the hill country of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah, where they spent the night.
- 1 Chronicles 2:53 and the clans of Kiriath-jearim—the Ithrites, Puthites, Shumathites, and Mishraites. From these descended the Zorathites and Eshtaolites.
- 2 Chronicles 11:10 Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron, the fortified cities in Judah and Benjamin.