Joshua 18:14

14 and it is bowed, and it compasseth against the sea, at the south of the hill that beholdeth Bethhoron against the north; and the outgoings thereof be into Kiriathbaal, which is called also Kiriathjearim, the city of the sons of Judah; this is the great coast against the sea, at the west. (and then it is turned, and it goeth to the west, southward from the hill country that beholdeth Bethhoron; and its end, or its limit, is Kiriathbaal, which is also called Kiriathjearim, the city of the sons of Judah; this is the western border.)

Joshua 18:14 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 18:14

And the border was drawn [thence]
From Bethhoron:

and compassed the corner of the sea southward;
it is hard to say what sea is meant, or what by it. Fuller ^F11 conjectures, that as the Hebrews call any confluence of water a sea, as we call such a "mere", the great waters in Gibeon may be meant, ( Jeremiah 41:12 ) ; for it cannot mean the Mediterranean sea, for Dan lay between Benjamin and that; and yet if a sea is meant, no other can be; wherefore it is best to render it the "west quarter", as it is in the latter part of this verse; and so the same word is translated, ( Joshua 18:12 ) ; the "west", and not the "sea", as it sometimes is; for the border of Benjamin did not reach the sea any where; though Josephus ^F12 makes it to extend to it, and says, that the length of it was from the river Jordan to the sea:

the hill that [lieth] before Bethhoron southward;
the hill that lay to the south of nether Bethhoron, as in ( Joshua 18:13 ) :

and the goings out thereof,
the end of the western coast,

were at Kirjathbaal, which [is] Kirjathjearim, a city of the children
of Judah;
of which see ( Joshua 15:9 Joshua 15:60 ) ;

this [was] the west quarter;
as thus described.

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FOOTNOTES:

F11 Pisgah Sight, B. 2. c. 12. p. 251.
F12 Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 1. sect. 22.)

Joshua 18:14 In-Context

12 And the term of them was against the north from (the) Jordan, and it passed by the side of Jericho at the north coast; and it ascended from thence against the west to the hilly places, and it came to the wilderness of Bethaven; (And their border at the north went out from the Jordan River, and it passed by the northern side of Jericho; and it went up from there to the west to the hill country, and it came to the wilderness of Bethaven;)

13 and it passed beside Luz to the south; that is Bethel; and (then) it goeth down into Atarothaddar, into the hill (country) which is at the south of Lower Bethhoron;

14 and it is bowed, and it compasseth against the sea, at the south of the hill that beholdeth Bethhoron against the north; and the outgoings thereof be into Kiriathbaal, which is called also Kiriathjearim, the city of the sons of Judah; this is the great coast against the sea, at the west. (and then it is turned, and it goeth to the west, southward from the hill country that beholdeth Bethhoron; and its end, or its limit, is Kiriathbaal, which is also called Kiriathjearim, the city of the sons of Judah; this is the western border.)

15 And from the south, by the part of Kiriathjearim, the term goeth out against the sea, and cometh till to the well of (the) waters of Nephtoah; (And in the south, from the edge of Kiriathjearim, the border goeth out toward the west, and cometh unto the well of the waters of Nephtoah;)

16 and it goeth down into the part of the hill that beholdeth the valley of the sons of Hinnom, and it is against the north coast, in the last part of the valley of Rephaim; and Ge Hinnom, that is, the valley of Hinnom, goeth down by the side of Jebusites, at the south, and cometh to the well of Rogel, (and it goeth down to the edge of the hill that beholdeth the Hinnom Valley, north of the Rephaim Valley, and then goeth down the Hinnom Valley, to the south side of the Jebusites, and cometh to Enrogel,)