Joshua 19:37 — Word Study
WLCוְקֶ֥דֶשׁ וְאֶדְרֶ֖עִי וְעֵ֥ין חָצֽוֹר׃
BSAKedeshQedesh [a holy place, city of refuge] Edreiʼedreʻîy [goodly pasture, fertile land] En-hazorʻÊyn Châtsôwr [fount of Hazor, a fenced city]
| Greek | English | Parsing |
|---|---|---|
| וְקֶ֥דֶשׁ | and Kedesh | Conjunction, noun proper |
| וְאֶדְרֶ֖עִי | and Edrei | Conjunction, noun proper |
| וְעֵ֥ין | and En | Conjunction, noun proper |
| חָצֽוֹר׃ | Hazor | Noun proper |
Every word in the verse. Click a row to open it in the panel on the left.
| BSB | Kedesh, Edrei, En-hazor, |
| KJV | And Kedesh, and Edrei, and En-hazor, |
| ASV | and Kedesh, and Edrei, and En-hazor, |
| YLT | and Kedesh, and Edrei, and En-Hazor, |
| WEB | Kedesh, Edrei, En Hazor, |
| BBE | And Kedesh and Edrei and En-Hazor |
Where they part company is in the meanings of the cities — see How Translations Differ.
This is a straightforward listing of cities, emphasizing their significance to the tribe of Naphtali.
4 commentators on this verse
Gill, Jamieson, Cambridge, Whedon & more — read them ›
clause
The sentence as the grammar sees it Open the tree ›
Every word here is used elsewhere in the Old Testament.
Bars are logarithmic — אֵת, the commonest word in the Hebrew Bible, stands about 11,000 times, so a linear scale would leave everything else invisible. Click a row to open that word.
Deep Study — Joshua 19:37
Sections marked generated are written from the data on this page rather than by a named author. Everything else — the lexicon entries, the cross references, the manuscript readings, the counts — is quoted from its source unchanged.
Context — The Cities of Naphtaligenerated
Joshua 19:37 lists cities allocated to the tribe of Naphtali, highlighting their importance in the territorial inheritance of Israel. These cities served as places of refuge and fortified locations, contributing to the identity and security of the tribe. The mention of these cities aligns with the broader narrative of land distribution in the book of Joshua, emphasizing the fulfillment of God's promises to Israel.
Cross References
| Reference | Text (BSB) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joshua 12:22 | the king of Kedesh, one; the king of Jokneam in Carmel, one; |
| 2 | Joshua 20:7 | So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah. |
The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — 2 references, hung on the phrase they belong to
The Key Word — קֶדֶשׁ, ve.Ke.deshgenerated
The word קֶדֶשׁ (Qedesh) means 'holy place' and refers to a city of refuge. It is derived from a root meaning 'to be holy', indicating its significance as a sacred site. In this verse, it represents a place of safety for those seeking refuge.
Kedesh is noted for its role as a fortified city, specifically given to the tribe of Naphtali. This city not only served a practical purpose but also held spiritual significance, being recognized as a holy site.
How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated
This study reads the verse in the Berean Standard Bible, so the BSB is the wording every comparison below is made against.
Sentence Structuregenerated
The structure of this verse consists of a main clause listing three cities: וְקֶדֶשׁ, וְאֶדְרֶעִי, and וְעֵין חָצֽוֹר. Each city is connected by the conjunction 'and', indicating a series of important locations.
The noun phrases are presented in a straightforward manner, emphasizing the cities as significant places within the territory of Naphtali.
Septuagint Backgroundgenerated
In the Septuagint, קֶדֶשׁ is rendered as καδες, indicating a direct translation that maintains the city's identity. This suggests that the translators recognized the city's significance as a holy place.
The translation choices reflect a consistent understanding of these cities as important locations in the narrative of Israel's inheritance.
In plain words — the whole versegenerated
Joshua 19:37 names three cities given to the tribe of Naphtali: Kedesh, Edrei, and En-hazor. Each city has a specific meaning that reflects its role and significance in the history of Israel.
Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated
Kedesh means 'holy place' and was a city of refuge, indicating its importance as a sacred site for those seeking safety.
Edrei means 'goodly pasture' and was known as a chief city in Bashan, highlighting its fertile land.
En-hazor means 'fount of Hazor' and represents a fenced city, indicating its role as a secure location within the territory.
These cities were part of the inheritance for the tribe of Naphtali, serving as places of refuge and contributing to their identity and heritage.
Reflection Questionsgenerated
- How do the meanings of these cities reflect the identity of the tribe of Naphtali?
- In what ways can we find refuge in our own lives, similar to the cities of refuge in ancient Israel?
- What significance do holy places hold in our spiritual journeys today?
- How can understanding the historical context of these cities enhance our reading of the biblical narrative?
Commentators on this verse — 4 expositors, verse by verse
Each of these wrote on Joshua 19:37 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.
John Gill1697–1771Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleAnd Kedesh,.... This is Kedesh in Galilee, in Mount Naphtali, to distinguish it from others of the same name; it was one of the cities of refuge, Joshua 20:7.
Read John Gill on Joshua 19 →Robert Jamieson1802–1880Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's CommentaryAnd Kedesh, and Edrei, and Enhazor, Kedesh , [Septuagint, Kades] - so called probably from having been anciently the seat of a pagan temple and hence, 'a holy city.' It has been identified by
Read Robert Jamieson on Joshua 19 →CambridgeThe Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges37. Kedesh] or Kedesh Naphtali (= “the Holy Place of Naphtali”), see above, ch. Joshua 12:22, originally, as we have seen, was a royal, and probably a sacred city of the Canaanites. It was conquered by Joshua (ch. Joshua 12:22), and made subsequently “a city of refuge.” Here (a) Barak was born; here (b) he was when Deborah summoned him to fight the battle of his country; hither (c) the prophetess came with him; and hence (d) having rallied the warriors of Zebulun and Naphtali he marched with 10000 men to Tabor (Judges 4:1-10). Edrei, and En-hazor] are unknown. This Edrei must not be confounded with the well-known Edrei in Bashan.
Read Cambridge on Joshua 19 →Daniel Denison Whedon1808–1885Whedon's Commentary on the Bible37. Kedesh — See on Joshua 12:22. Edrei, not the city in Bashan of the same name, (Joshua 13:31, note,) but another near Kadesh, whose name still lingers, perhaps, in Khureibeh, a few miles west of Lake Merom.
Read Daniel Denison Whedon on Joshua 19 →The verse in English, compared — 17 translations, and where they part company
Every translation on this page is a decision someone had to make and commit to. Read down a column and you see one translator's judgement; read across a row and you see the range the Greek actually allows. The BSB is the wording the rest of this page is measured against, so it is listed first.
Modern formal
Kedesh, Edrei, En-hazor,
Kedesh, Edrei, En Hazor,
Kedesh, Edrei, En-hazor,
Kedesh, Edrei, En Hazor,
Tyndale line
And Kedesh, and Edrei, and En-hazor,
and Kedesh, and Edrei, and En-hazor,
and Kedesh, and Edrei, and En-hazor;
And Kedesh, and Edrei, and En-hazor,
And Kedesh, and Edrei, and En-hazor,
Strictly literal
and Kedesh, and Edrei, and En-Hazor,
and Kedesh, and Edrei, and En-Hazor,
and Kedesh, and Edrei, and En-Hazor,
And Kedesh, and Edre'i, and 'En-chazor,
Kedesh, Edrei, and En Hazor.
From the Latin
And Cedes and Edri, Enhasor,
Simplified
Kedesh, Edrei, En-hazor,
And Kedesh and Edrei and En-Hazor
Counted from the translations carried on this site, not from a survey of every English Bible. A rendering shared by many versions is usually inherited rather than independently arrived at — the Tyndale line in particular runs through most of them.
The sentence as the grammar sees it — from the MACULA Hebrew treebank
This is not our own analysis: it is the scholarly syntax tree for the verse, showing how the clause actually holds together.
Boxes are the grammarian's groupings — clause, noun phrase, prepositional phrase.
The four witnesses to this verse — Masoretic, Septuagint, Samaritan, Qumran
The Masoretic Text lists the cities as וְקֶ֥דֶשׁ וְאֶדְרֶ֖עִי וְעֵ֥ין חָצֽוֹר׃. The Septuagint matches three of the four words, indicating a strong agreement between these ancient witnesses regarding the names of the cities.
וְקֶ֥דֶשׁ וְאֶדְרֶ֖עִי וְעֵ֥ין חָצֽוֹר׃
3 of the 4 words are matched. This is the word-by-word correspondence, not the Septuagint's own sentence — its word order and its articles are its own.
Four traditions, not one. “On the leather” means the letters physically survive on the scroll, as against letters an editor has supplied to fill a hole in it — a restoration is a scholar’s reading, not a reading of the manuscript. Words in [square brackets] are supplied; the notes count them apart from what survives.
The map of this verse — what each word keeps company with
This is a map of two things, both counted rather than judged. Company kept: which words stand within three words of each of these, anywhere in the Hebrew Bible — the thicker the line, the more often the pair meet compared with chance. Built from: the words a word is made out of, taken from its own Strong’s entry. It is not a map of meaning: nothing here claims two words mean the same thing. Click any circle to see the numbers behind it.
Lexicons — every word in Joshua 19:37
One dossier per word, with every reference work grouped by kind — Hebrew lexicons, morphology, Bible dictionaries, topical chains and the English of the translators themselves. The verse sits at the head of each block with the word under study lit, so you never lose your place. The panel above gives the short answer; this is the long one, and it is the part of the page worth indexing.
Every entry below is the lexicographer's own text. On the Hebrew: Brown-Driver-Briggs entire and its gloss set, Strong's Hebrew Dictionary, and Tyndale House's Translators Brief lexicon. Where a cell says a work has no entry, that work genuinely has none for this word.
קֶ֫דֶשׁ (Qedesh) refers to a sanctum or holy place and is the name of several locations in ancient Palestine, including cities of refuge and fortified cities. It is associated with regions in Galilee, Judah, and Naphtali, and is noted for its significance as a refuge city. The term is derived from a root meaning 'to be holy'.
קֶ֫דֶשׁ n.pr.loc. (sanctuary)
in Galilee
city of refuge in Issachar
in S. Judah
base
H6943 קֶ֫דֶשׁ
6943 Qedesh keh'-desh
from 6942; a sanctum; Kedesh, the name of four places in
Palestine:--Kedesh.
see HEBREW for 06942
קֶ֫דֶשׁ (qe.desh) — Kedesh.
§ Kedesh = "holy place"
a fortified Canaanite city allotted to Naphtali
קֶ֫דֶשׁ (qe.desh) — Kedesh.
Kedesh = "holy place"
a city in the extreme south of Judah
קֶ֫דֶשׁ (qe.desh) — Kedesh.
Kedesh = "holy place"
a city of refuge in Naphtali
Another name of qish.yon (קִשְׁיוֹן "Kishion" H7191)
קֶ֫דֶשׁ (qe.desh) — Kedesh.
Kedesh = "holy place"
a fortified Canaanite city allotted to Naphtali
Conj | N-proper — Conjunction · noun properHC/Npl
Kedesh
Sanctuary. (1.) A place in the extreme south of Judah (Josh. 15:23). Probably the same as Kadesh-barnea (q.v.).
(2.) A city of Issachar (1 Chr. 6:72). Possibly Tell Abu Kadeis, near Lejjun.
(3.) A “fenced city” of Naphtali, one of the cities of refuge (Josh. 19:37; Judg. 4:6). It was assigned to the Gershonite Levites (Josh. 21:32). It was originally a Canaanite royal city (Josh. 12:22), and was the residence of Barak (Judg. 4:6); and here he and Deborah assembled the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali before the…
(a sanctuary). In the extreme south of Judah, (Joshua 15:23) same as Kadesh and Kadesh-barnea. A city of Issachar, allotted to the Gershonite Levites. (1 Chronicles 6:72) The Kadesh mentioned among the cities whose kings were slain by Joshua, (Joshua 12:22) in company with Megiddo and Jokneam of Carmel, would seem to have been this city of Issachar. Kedesh; also Kedesh in Galilee; and once, (Judges 4:6) Kedesh-naphtali, one of the fortified cities of the tribe of Naphtali, named between Hazor and Edrei, (Joshua 19:37) appointed as a city of refuge, and allotted with its "suburbs" to the Gershonite Levites. (
אֶדְרֶ֫עִי (edre`iy) refers to a chief city of Bashan, noted for its might. The name is derived from the equivalent of another Hebrew word meaning 'mighty.' It is associated with two locations in Palestine, and one interpretation suggests that Edrei means 'goodly pasture.'
אֶדְרֶ֫עִי n.pr.loc. a chief city of Bashan
base
H154 אֶדְרֶ֫עִי a chief city of Bashan
154 'edre`iy ed-reh'-ee
from the equivalent of 153; mighty; Edrei, the name of two
places in Palestine:--Edrei.
see HEBREW for 0153
אֶדְרֶ֫עִי (ed.re.i) — Edrei.
§ Edrei = "goodly pasture"
a chief city of Bashan, north of Jabbok river
Conj | N-proper — Conjunction · noun properHC/Npl
ed'-re-i ('edhre`i; Edra-ein):
(1) One of the cities of Og, not far from Ashtaroth, where the power of his kingdom received its deathblow from the invading Israelites (Jos 12:4; Nu 21:33 ff, etc.). It seems to mark the western limit of Bashan as against Salecah on the East (De 3:10). It was given to Machir, son of Manasseh (Jos 13:31). Eusebius, Onomasticon places it 24 Roman miles from Bostra. The most probable identification is with Der`ah, a town of between 4,000 and 5,000 inhabitants, on the southern lip of Wady Zeideh, about 29 miles as the crow flies East of the Sea of Galilee. It is the center of an exceedingly fruitful district. The accumulated rubbish in the town…
Edrei
Mighty; strength. (1.) One of the chief towns of the kingdom of Bashan (Josh. 12:4, 5). Here Og was defeated by the Israelites, and the strength of the Amorites broken (Num. 21:33-35). It subsequently belonged to Manasseh, for a short time apparently, and afterwards became the abode of banditti and outlaws (Josh. 13:31). It has been identified with the modern Edr’a, which stands on a rocky promontory on the south-west edge of the Lejah (the Argob of the Hebrews, and Trachonitis of the Greeks). The ruins of Edr’a are the most extensive in the Hauran. They are 3 miles in circumference. A number of the ancient houses still remain; the walls, roofs, and doors being all of stone. The wild region of which Edrei was the capital…
(stronghold). One of the two capital cities of Bashan, in the territory of Manasseh east of the Jordan. (Numbers 21:33; 1:4; 3:10; Joshua 12:4) In Scripture it is only mentioned in connection with the victory gained by the Israelites over the Amorites under Og their king, and the territory thus acquired. The ruins of this ancient city, still bearing the name Edr’a , stand on a rocky promontory which projects from the southwest corner of the Lejah. The ruins are nearly three miles in circumference, and have a strange, wild, look, rising up in dark, shattered masses from the midst of a wilderness of black rocks. A town of northern Palestine, allotted to the tribe of Naphtali, and situated near Kedesh. (Joshua 19:37) About two…
One of the capitals of Bashan, near which Og and his forces were destroyed, Nu 21:33-35 De 1:4 3:1-3. It afterwards fell within the limits of Manasseh, Jos 13:31. Its ruins cover a large space; it was a place of some note in the early ages of Christianity and in the era of the crusades. It is now called Draa, and lies about thirty-five miles east of the outlet of the Sea of Galilee.
עֵין חָצוֹר n.pr.loc. in Naphtali Jos 19:37
ref
H5877 עֵין חָצוֹר
5877 `Eyn Chatsowr ane khaw-tsore'
from 5869 and the same as 2674; fountain of a village;
En-Chatsor, a place in Palestine:--En-hazor.
see HEBREW for 05869
see HEBREW for 02674
עֵין חָצוֹר (en cha.tsor) — En-hazor.
§ En-hazor = "fount of Hazor"
one of the fenced cities in the territory of Naphtali
N-proper — Conjunction · noun properHC/Npl
at the beginning of many Hebrew words, signifies a spring or fountain.
A fountain compounded with many names of towns and places; as En- dor, En-gedi, En-eglaim, En-shemesh, that is, the fountain of Dor, etc.
עֵין חָצוֹר n.pr.loc. in Naphtali Jos 19:37
ref
H5877 עֵין חָצוֹר
5877 `Eyn Chatsowr ane khaw-tsore'
from 5869 and the same as 2674; fountain of a village;
En-Chatsor, a place in Palestine:--En-hazor.
see HEBREW for 05869
see HEBREW for 02674
עֵין חָצוֹר (en cha.tsor) — En-hazor.
§ En-hazor = "fount of Hazor"
one of the fenced cities in the territory of Naphtali
HNpl — Noun properHNpl
ha'-zor (chatsor; Nasor; Codex Sinaiticus, Asor, 1 Macc 11:67):
(1) The royal city of Jabin (Jos 11:1), which, before the Israelite conquest, seems to have been the seat of a wide authority (Jos 11:11). It was taken by Joshua, who exterminated the inhabitants, and it was the only city in that region which he destroyed by fire (11:11-13). At a later time the Jabin Dynasty appears to have recovered power and restored the city (Jud 4:2). The heavy defeat of their army at the hands of Deborah and Barak led to their final downfall (Jud 4:23). It was in the territory allotted to Naphtali (Jos 19:36). Hazor was one of the cities…
Hazor
Enclosed; fortified. (1.) A stronghold of the Canaanites in the mountains north of Lake Merom (Josh. 11:1-5). Jabin the king with his allied tribes here encountered Joshua in a great battle. Joshua gained a signal victory, which virtually completed his conquest of Canaan (11:10-13). This city was, however, afterwards rebuilt by the Canaanites, and was ruled by a king with the same hereditary name of Jabin. His army, under a noted leader of the name of Sisera, swept down upon the south, aiming at the complete subjugation of the country. This powerful army was met by the Israelites under Barak, who went forth by the advice of the prophetess Deborah. The result was one of the most remarkable victories for Israel recorded in the Old Testament (Josh. 19:36;
(castle). A fortified city, which on the occupation of the country was allotted to Naphtali. (Joshua 19:36) Its position was apparently between Ramah and Kedesh, ibid. (Joshua 12:19) on the high ground overlooking the Lake of Merom. There is no reason for supposing it a different place from that of which Jabin was king. (Joshua 11:1; Judges 4:2,17; 1 Samuel 12:9) It was the principal city of the whole of north Palestine. (Joshua 11:10) It was fortified by Solomon, (1 Kings 9:15) and its inhabitants were carried…
1. A chief city of northern Canaan, whose king Jabin, at the head of an allied host, was defeated by Joshua, Jos 11:1-13. Hazor revived, however, and for a time oppressed the Israelites; but was subdued by Barak, fortified by Solomon, and remained in the possession of Israel until the invasion of Tiglathpileser, Jos 19:36; Jud 4:2; 1Ki 9:15; 2Ki 15:29. It lay not far from Lake Merom.
2. A region in Arabia, laid waste by Nebuchadnezzar, Jer 49:28- 33. Its location is unknown.