Numbers 34:10
in Numbers 34And your eastern border will run straight from Hazar-enan to Shepham,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And ye shall mark out your east border from Hazar-enan to Shepham;
KJV
And ye shall point out your east border from Hazar–enan to Shepham:
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This verse in Numbers 34
Commentary
4 notes on this verseAnd ye shall point out your east border from Hazarenan to Shepham. From the place where the northern border ended, which Jerom says (u) the Hebrews call Apamia, as both the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem do here. Shepham was a city between Hazarenan and Riblah in the tribe of Naphtali, where Adrichomius (w) places it. (u) Comment. ut supra. (cf. ver. 15.) (w) Theatrum Terrae Sanct. p. 114.
This site's exposition
ye shall point out your east border
on Numbers 34:10-16
The east line comes down past the sea of Chinnereth, which the Gospels call the sea of Galilee, then follows Jordan to the salt sea where the south line began. Everything inside those four borders is Canaan, and verse 13 gives it to nine tribes and a half, because Reuben, Gad and half Manasseh had asked in chapter 32 for the pasture on the far side of Jordan. Joshua 22:24-25 records the fear those tribes carried afterward, that Jordan had been made a border and their children would be told they had no part in the LORD.
The record, by era
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Shepham, the first point after Hazar-enan, is unknown. The name Riblah is by some read Har-bel, i. e., “the Mountain of Bel;” the Har-baal-Hermon of Jdg 3:3. No more striking landmark could be set forth than the summit of Hermon, the southernmost and by far the loftiest peak of the whole Antilibanus range, rising to a height of 10,000 feet, and overtopping every other mountain in the Holy land.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
east border--This is very clearly defined. Shepham and Riblah, which were in the valley of Lebanon, are mentioned as the boundary line, which commenced a little higher than the sources of the Jordan.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
You shall turn yourselves toward the eastern border from Chatzar Einan to Shefam.
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. 6 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
7 Hebrew wordsEvery 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.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְהִתְאַוִּיתֶ֥ם | vehitavitem | and you will mark | H184 → | |
| לָכֶ֖ם | lakhem | for <the> yourselves | ||
| לִגְב֣וּל | ligvul | for [the] border of | H1366 → | 240 times |
| קֵ֑דְמָה | kedemah | east -ward | H6924 → | 87 times |
| מֵחֲצַ֥ר | mechatzar | from Hazar | H2704 → | 6 times |
| עֵינָ֖ן | ʾeinan | Enan | H2704 → | 6 times |
| שְׁפָֽמָה׃ | shefamah | Shepham towards | H8221 → |
וְהִתְאַוִּיתֶ֥םand you will mark
vehitavitemH184 →
לָכֶ֖םfor <the> yourselves
lakhem
לִגְב֣וּלfor [the] border of
ligvulH1366 →240 times
קֵ֑דְמָהeast -ward
kedemahH6924 →87 times
מֵחֲצַ֥רfrom Hazar
mechatzarH2704 →6 times
עֵינָ֖ןEnan
ʾeinanH2704 →6 times
שְׁפָֽמָה׃Shepham towards
shefamahH8221 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
About Numbers
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.