Bible Strands
Nehemiah 11:30
Zanoah, Adullam, and their villages; in Lachish and its fields; and in Azekah and its villages. So they settled from Beersheba all the way to the Valley of Hinnom.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Nehemiah records the resettlement of Judah and Benjamin families in the restored province, cataloging specific towns and their territories for the returned community.
The words — וַ/יַּחֲנ֥וּ (va/i.ya.cha.Nu) = and/ they encamped [H2583] describes the initial occupation of the listed settlements. וּ/בְנֹתֶ֑י/הָ (u./ve.no.Tei./ha) = and/ daughters/ its [H1323] literally denotes the dependent villages belonging to each principal city.
The thread — The territory of Lachish appears in Joshua 10:3 as a military target during the conquest. The Valley of Hinnom marks a boundary in Joshua 15:8, while Adullam is noted as a conquered royal city in Joshua 12:15.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition of how post-exilic communities mapped their identity onto inherited ancestral geography. It requires readers to track how returned settlers physically occupied and named the land their ancestors once fought for.
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
Zanoah, Adullam, and in their villages, at Lachish, and the fields thereof, at Azekah, and in the villages thereof. And they dwelt from Beer–sheba unto the valley of Hinnom.
Cross-references
- Joshua 10:3 Therefore Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem sent word to Hoham king of Hebron, Piram king of Jarmuth, Japhia king of Lachish, and Debir king of Eglon, saying,
- Joshua 15:8 From 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.
- Joshua 12:15 the king of Libnah, one; the king of Adullam, one;
- Joshua 15:34 Zanoah, En-gannim, Tappuah, Enam,
- Joshua 15:39 Lachish, Bozkath, Eglon,
- Joshua 18:16 Then it went down to the foot of the hill that faces the Valley of Ben-hinnom at the northern end of the Valley of Rephaim and ran down the Valley of Hinnom toward the southern slope of the Jebusites and downward to En-rogel.
- 2 Kings 23:10 He also desecrated Topheth in the Valley of Ben-hinnom so that no one could sacrifice his son or daughter in the fire to Molech.
- Nehemiah 3:13 The Valley Gate was repaired by Hanun and the residents of Zanoah. They rebuilt it, installed its doors, bolts, and bars, and repaired a thousand cubits of the wall as far as the Dung Gate.
- Isaiah 37:8 When the Rabshakeh heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah.
- Jeremiah 7:31 They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben-hinnom so they could burn their sons and daughters in the fire—something I never commanded, nor did it even enter My mind.