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Joshua 16:8

in Joshua 16

From Tappuah the border went westward to the Brook of Kanah and ended at the Sea. This was the inheritance of the clans of the tribe of Ephraim,

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

From Tappuah the border went along westward to the brook of Kanah; and the goings out thereof were at the sea. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Ephraim according to their families;

KJV

The border went out from Tappuah westward unto the river Kanah; and the goings out thereof were at the sea. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Ephraim by their families.

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This verse in Joshua 16

Commentary

7 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Tappuah - This was a city in the tribe of Manasseh, and gave name to a certain district called the land of Tappuah. See Jos 17:8. The sea - The Mediterranean, as before.

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 Awakening3 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

Samaria, built by Omri after the burning of the royal palace of Tirzah, was in this tribe, and was long the royal city of the kingdom of the ten tribes; not far from it were Shechem, and the mountains Ebal and Gerizim, and Sychar, near which was Jacob's well, where Christ talked with the woman of Samaria.
The border went out from Tappuah westward,....

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 Century2 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

from Tappuah westward unto the river Kanah--It is retraced from east to west, to describe the prospective and intended boundary, which was to reach to the sea. Kanah ("reedy") flows into the Mediterranean.

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

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 separated cities. These too were included in the inheritance of Ephraim. They had cities that were separated from their portion and were incorporated within the boundary of the inheritance of Menashe.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Joshua 16:9:1, 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

15 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.

  • מִתַּפּ֜וּחַfrom Tappuah

    mitapuachH8599 →6 times

  • יֵלֵ֨ךְit goes

    yelekhH1980 →1546 times

  • הַגְּב֥וּלthe border

    hagevulH1366 →240 times

  • יָ֙מָּה֙west -ward

    yamahH3220 →396 times

  • נַ֣חַל[the] wadi of

    nachalH5158 →141 times

  • קָנָ֔הKanah

    kanahH7071 →3 times

  • וְהָי֥וּand they are

    vehayuH1961 →3559 times

  • תֹצְאֹתָ֖יוextremities its

    totzeotavH8444 →23 times

  • הַיָּ֑מָּהthe sea towards

    haiyamahH3220 →396 times

  • זֹ֗אתthis

    zotH2063 →603 times

  • נַחֲלַ֛ת[was] [the] inheritance of

    nachalatH5159 →222 times

  • מַטֵּ֥ה[the] tribe of

    matehH4294 →252 times

  • בְנֵי־[the] descendants of

    venei-H1121 →4930 times

  • אֶפְרַ֖יִםEphraim

    ʾefrayimH669 →180 times

  • לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָֽם׃to clans their

    lemishpechotamH4940 →303 times

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

Related verses

5 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 19:28

    It went on to Ebron, Rehob, Hammon, and Kanah, as far as Greater Sidon.

    it leads to

    • Judges 1:31

      Asher failed to drive out the inhabitants of Acco, Sidon, Ahlab, Achzib, Helbah, Aphik, and Rehob.

    • Joshua 11:8

      and the LORD delivered them into the hand of Israel, who struck them down and pursued them all the way to Greater Sidon and Misrephoth-maim, and eastward as far as the Valley of Mizpeh.…

    • John 4:46

      So once again He came to Cana in Galilee, where He had turned the water into wine. And there was a royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum.

    • Isaiah 23:4

      Be ashamed, O Sidon, the stronghold of the sea, for the sea has spoken: “I have not been in labor or given birth. I have not raised young men or brought up young women.”

    • Genesis 10:19

      and the borders of Canaan extended from Sidon toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and then toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.

  • Through

    Joshua 12:17

    the king of Tappuah, one; the king of Hepher, one;

    it leads to

    • 1 Kings 4:10

      Ben-hesed in Arubboth (Socoh and all the land of Hepher belonged to him);

  • Through

    Numbers 34:6

    Your western border will be the coastline of the Great Sea; this will be your boundary on the west.

    it leads to

    • 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 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,…

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 Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; 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 →