Skip to content
mannafest.faith
Read

Joshua 16:6

in Joshua 16

and out toward the Sea. From Michmethath on the north it turned eastward toward Taanath-shiloh and passed by it to Janoah on the east.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

and the border went out westward at Michmethath on the north; and the border turned about eastward unto Taanath-shiloh, and passed along it on the east of Janoah;

KJV

And the border went out toward the sea to Michmethah on the north side; and the border went about eastward unto Taanath–shiloh, and passed by it on the east to Janohah;

⋯

This verse in Joshua 16

Commentary

4 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

the border of the children

on Joshua 16:5-9

Ephraim's line is drawn according to their families, so the register reaches below the tribe to the households inside it. It runs over ground the book has already fought on, since Bethhoron the nether at verse 3 and Bethhoron the upper at verse 5 sit on the descent where the Amorites fled and the great stones fell from heaven at Joshua 10:10-11. Verse 6 names Taanath-shiloh, and Shiloh itself lies in this territory, where the tabernacle is set up at 18:1 and stands until the ark is taken in 1 Samuel 4. Verse 9 gives Ephraim towns inside Manasseh's inheritance and 17:9 records the same arrangement from the other side; the text gives no reason for it, and Barnes says the reason can only be conjectured.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

And the border went out towards the sea,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

Though Joseph was one of the younger sons of Jacob, yet he was his eldest by his most just and best beloved wife Rachel, was himself his best beloved son, and had been the greatest ornament and support of his family, kept it from perishing in a time of famine, and had been the shepherd and stone of Israel, and therefore his posterity were very much favoured by the lot.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

the border of their inheritance . . . was Ataroth-addar--Ataroth-addar (now Atara), four miles south of Jetta [ROBINSON], is fixed on as a center, through which a line is drawn from Upper Beth-horon to Michmethah, showing the western limit of their actual possessions.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

The boundary then went out westward. Its length was westward to Michmesos; the boundary line continued north of Michmesos.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Joshua 16:6:1, via Sefaria, The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
On the east was Atros-addor. The eastern boundary starts from Atros-Addor and from there the border widens to Beis-choron. This is its width.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Joshua 16:5:1, via Sefaria, The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

14 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וְיָצָ֨אand it goes out

    veyatza'H3318 →1067 times

  • הַגְּב֜וּלthe border

    hagevulH1366 →240 times

  • הַיָּ֗מָּהthe sea towards

    haiyamahH3220 →396 times

  • הַֽמִּכְמְתָת֙<the> Micmethath

    hamikhmetatH4366 →

  • מִצָּפ֔וֹן[is] from [the] north

    mitzafonH6828 →153 times

  • וְנָסַ֧בand it turns

    venasavH5437 →161 times

  • הַגְּב֛וּלthe border

    hagevulH1366 →240 times

  • מִזְרָ֖חָהeast -ward

    mizrachahH4217 →74 times

  • תַּאֲנַ֣תTaanath

    taanatH8387 →

  • שִׁלֹ֑הShiloh

    shilohH8387 →

  • וְעָבַ֣רand it passes by

    veavarH5674 →556 times

  • אוֹת֔וֹ<obj.> it

    ʾotoH853 →10935 times

  • מִמִּזְרַ֖חfrom [the] east

    mimizrachH4217 →74 times

  • יָנֽוֹחָה׃<to> Janoah

    yanochahH3239 →

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

3 in all, six open

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Joshua 18:1

    Then the whole congregation of Israel assembled at Shiloh and set up the Tent of Meeting there. And though the land was subdued before them,

    it leads to

    • Joshua 19:51

      These are the inheritances that Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the families distributed by lot to the tribes of Israel at Shiloh before the LORD at the entrance…

    • Joshua 21:2

      at Shiloh in the land of Canaan and said to them, “The LORD commanded through Moses that we be given cities in which to live, together with pasturelands for our livestock.”

    • 1 Samuel 1:3

      Year after year Elkanah would go up from his city to worship and sacrifice to the LORD of Hosts at Shiloh, where Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests to the LORD.

    • Jeremiah 26:6

      then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city an object of cursing among all the nations of the earth.’”

    • Joshua 22:9

      So the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh left the Israelites at Shiloh in the land of Canaan to return to their own land of Gilead, which they had acquired according to…

  • Through

    Joshua 17:7

    Now the border of Manasseh went from Asher to Michmethath near Shechem, then southward to include the inhabitants of En-tappuah.

    it leads to

    • Joshua 21:21

      From the tribe of Ephraim they were given Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim (a city of refuge for the manslayer), Gezer,

    • Joshua 24:32

      And the bones of Joseph, which the Israelites had brought up out of Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the plot of land that Jacob had purchased from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father,…

    • Joshua 16:6–8

      and out toward the Sea. From Michmethath on the north it turned eastward toward Taanath-shiloh and passed by it to Janoah on the east.

About Joshua

The Walls of Jericho Fall Down, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Walls of Jericho Fall Down, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Joshua: the study guide →Read Joshua 16 →

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Joshua 16 →