Bible Strands
Numbers 34:6
Your western border will be the coastline of the Great Sea; this will be your boundary on the west.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses is recording the territorial boundaries of the Promised Land for the Israelites prior to their Jordan crossing. This verse establishes the western limit of that inheritance.
The words — The Hebrew יָם (Yam) functions first as "west" and then as "sea," followed by הַגָּדוֹל (ha-gadol), meaning "the great." The term וּגְבוּל (u-gevul) explicitly defines the line as a fixed boundary.
The thread — Joshua 15:12 repeats this exact designation as the western coastline for the tribal clans, while Joshua 1:4 and 9:1 extend the reference to the broader land west of the Jordan.
Why it lands — The text provides a precise geographical marker rather than an abstract promise, requiring the reader to acknowledge the concrete extent of the allocated territory.
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 as for the western border, ye shall even have the great sea for a border: this shall be your west border.
Cross-references
- Joshua 1:4 Your territory shall extend from the wilderness and Lebanon to the great River Euphrates—all the land of the Hittites—and west as far as the Great Sea.
- Joshua 9:1 Now when news of this reached all the kings west of the Jordan—those in the hill country, the foothills, and all along the coast of the Great Sea toward Lebanon (the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites)—
- Joshua 15:12 And the western border was the coastline of the Great Sea. These are the boundaries around the clans of the descendants of Judah.
- Joshua 15:47 Ashdod, with its towns and villages; Gaza, with its towns and villages, as far as the Brook of Egypt and the coastline of the Great Sea.
- Joshua 23:4 See, I have allotted as an inheritance to your tribes these remaining nations, including all the nations I have already cut off, from the Jordan westward to the Great Sea.
- Ezekiel 47:10 Fishermen will stand by the shore; from En-gedi to En-eglaim they will spread their nets to catch fish of many kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea.
- Ezekiel 47:15 This shall be the boundary of the land: On the north side it will extend from the Great Sea by way of Hethlon through Lebo-hamath to Zedad,
- Ezekiel 47:20 And on the west side, the Great Sea will be the boundary up to a point opposite Lebo-hamath. This will be the western boundary.