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Joshua 16:7

in Joshua 16

From Janoah it went down to Ataroth and Naarah, and then reached Jericho and came out at the Jordan.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

and it went down from Janoah to Ataroth, and to Naarah, and reached unto Jericho, and went out at the Jordan.

KJV

And it went down from Janohah to Ataroth, and to Naarath, and came to Jericho, and went out at Jordan.

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 it went down from Johanan to Ataroth,....

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

On the verses either side of this one

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

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

8 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.

  • וְיָרַ֥דand it goes down

    veyaradH3381381 times

  • מִיָּנ֖וֹחָהfrom Janoah

    miyanochahH3239

  • עֲטָר֣וֹתAtaroth

    atarotH5852

  • וְנַעֲרָ֑תָהand Naarah towards

    venaaratahH5292

  • וּפָגַע֙and it touches

    ufaga'H629346 times

  • בִּֽירִיח֔וֹ<on> Jericho

    birichoH340557 times

  • וְיָצָ֖אand it goes out

    veyatza'H33181067 times

  • הַיַּרְדֵּֽן׃the Jordan

    haiyardenH3383182 times

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

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 6:26

    At that time Joshua invoked this solemn oath: “Cursed before the LORD is the man who rises up and rebuilds this city, Jericho; at the cost of his firstborn he will lay its foundations;…

    it leads to

    • 1 Kings 16:34

      In Ahab’s days, Hiel the Bethelite rebuilt Jericho. At the cost of Abiram his firstborn he laid its foundation, and at the cost of Segub his youngest he set up its gates, according to…

    • Acts 19:13

      Now there were some itinerant Jewish exorcists who tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those with evil spirits. They would say, “I bind you by Jesus, whom Paul proclaims.”

  • Through

    Joshua 6:1

    Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in.

    it leads to

    • Joshua 2:9–14

      and said to them, “I know that the LORD has given you this land and that the fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who dwell in the land are melting…

    • Joshua 2:24

      “The LORD has surely delivered the entire land into our hands,” they said to Joshua. “Indeed, all who dwell in the land are melting in fear of us.”

    • Psalms 127:1

      Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain; unless the LORD protects the city, its watchmen stand guard in vain.

  • Through

    Joshua 3:16

    the flowing water stood still. It backed up as far upstream as Adam, a city in the area of Zarethan, while the water flowing toward the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) was…

    it leads to

    • Joshua 3:13

      When the feet of the priests who carry the ark of the LORD—the Lord of all the earth—touch down in the waters of the Jordan, its flowing waters will be cut off and will…

    • 1 Kings 7:46

      The king had them cast in clay molds in the plain of the Jordan between Succoth and Zarethan.

  • Through

    Numbers 33:48

    They set out from the mountains of Abarim and camped on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho.

    it leads to

    • Numbers 22:1

      Then the Israelites traveled on and camped in the plains of Moab near the Jordan, across from Jericho.

About Joshua

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.