Joshua 15:31 — Word Study
WLCוְצִֽקְלַ֥ג וּמַדְמַנָּ֖ה וְסַנְסַנָּֽה׃
BSAZiklagTsiqlag [a town in southern Judah] MadmannahMadmannâh [meaning dunghill] SansannahÇançannâh△ [palm branch, a place in southern Judah]
| Greek | English | Parsing |
|---|---|---|
| וְצִֽקְלַ֥ג | and Ziklag | Conjunction, noun proper |
| וּמַדְמַנָּ֖ה | and Madmannah | Conjunction, noun proper |
| וְסַנְסַנָּֽה׃ | and Sansannah | Conjunction, noun proper |
Every word in the verse. Click a row to open it in the panel on the left.
| BSB | Ziklag, Madmannah, Sansannah, |
| KJV | And Ziklag, and Madmannah, and Sansannah, |
| ASV | and Ziklag, and Madmannah, and Sansannah, |
| YLT | and Ziklag, and Madmannah, and Sansannah, |
| WEB | Ziklag, Madmannah, Sansannah, |
| BBE | And Ziklag, and Madmannah, and Sansannah; |
All translations agree on the names of the towns listed.
The verse consists of a simple list of towns with no additional clauses.
4 commentators on this verse
Gill, Jamieson, Ellicott, AdamClarke & more — read them ›
clause
The sentence as the grammar sees it Open the tree ›
1 of 3 occurs nowhere else in the Old Testament — a word chosen on purpose.
Bars are logarithmic — אֵת, the commonest word in the Hebrew Bible, stands about 11,000 times, so a linear scale would leave everything else invisible. Click a row to open that word.
Deep Study — Joshua 15:31
Sections marked generated are written from the data on this page rather than by a named author. Everything else — the lexicon entries, the cross references, the manuscript readings, the counts — is quoted from its source unchanged.
Context — The Cities of Judahgenerated
Joshua 15:31 lists towns in the territory of Judah, highlighting the allocation of land among the tribes of Israel. This verse specifically mentions Ziklag, Madmannah, and Sansannah, which are part of the southern districts. The mention of these towns reflects the historical and geographical context of the Israelite settlement in the land, as seen in the broader narrative of Joshua's conquests.
Cross References
| Reference | Text (BSB) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joshua 19:5 | Ziklag, Beth-marcaboth, Hazar-susah, |
| 2 | 1 Samuel 27:6 | That day Achish gave him Ziklag, and to this day it still belongs to the kings of Judah. |
| 3 | 1 Samuel 30:1 | On the third day David and his men arrived in Ziklag, and the Amalekites had raided the Negev, attacked Ziklag, and burned it down. |
| 4 | 1 Chronicles 12:1 | Now these were the men who came to David at Ziklag, while he was still banished from the presence of Saul son of Kish (they were among the mighty men who helped him in battle; |
The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — 4 references, hung on the phrase they belong to
The Key Word — צִקְלַג, ve.tzik.Laggenerated
The name צִקְלַג (tziklag) refers to a town in southern Judah, significant in the life of David. The town was given to him by King Achish of Gath, where he stayed with his warriors. The name is thought to mean "winding," indicating a geographical feature.
Ziklag is noted in the context of David's life, particularly as a city where he received support from his men. This historical significance emphasizes its role in the narrative of the Israelite settlement.
How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated
This study reads the verse in the Berean Standard Bible, so the BSB is the wording every comparison below is made against.
Sentence Structuregenerated
The structure of the verse is straightforward, listing three towns in a noun phrase: צִקְלַג, מַדְמַנָּה, and סַנְסַנָּה. The conjunctions connect each town, indicating they are part of a collective list.
The Hebrew word order emphasizes the towns being named, with each town presented as an important part of the geographical context.
Septuagint Backgroundgenerated
The Septuagint translates צִקְלַג as σεκελακ, which retains the name while adapting it to Greek phonetics. This choice shows continuity in the recognition of Ziklag's significance.
The other towns are also translated directly, indicating a consistent understanding of these locations in both Hebrew and Greek traditions.
In plain words — the whole versegenerated
Joshua 15:31 lists three towns in southern Judah: Ziklag, Madmannah, and Sansannah. Each town has its own significance, with Ziklag being particularly notable in the life of David.
Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated
Ziklag was a town given to David by King Achish of Gath, where he stayed with his warriors.
Madmannah means dunghill and is associated with a town in southern Judah.
Sansannah is a place in southern Judah, meaning palm branch, reflecting the area's vegetation.
These towns are part of the allocation of land among the tribes of Israel, highlighting their historical significance.
Reflection Questionsgenerated
- What can we learn from the historical significance of Ziklag in David's life?
- How do the meanings of the towns reflect their geographical context?
- Why is it important to understand the allocation of land among the tribes of Israel?
- In what ways do these towns connect to the broader narrative of the Israelites settling in Canaan?
Commentators on this verse — 4 expositors, verse by verse
Each of these wrote on Joshua 15:31 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.
John Gill1697–1771Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleAnd Ziklag,.... Ziklag was also given to the tribe of Simeon, Joshua 19:5, it was in the bands of the king of Gath, in the times of David, who gave it to him; it bordered on the Amalekites, and is
Read John Gill on Joshua 15 →Robert Jamieson1802–1880Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's CommentaryAnd Ziklag, and Madmannah, and Sansannah, (24) And Ziklag , [Septuagint, Sekelak].
Read Robert Jamieson on Joshua 15 →Charles John Ellicott1819–1905Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(21) And the uttermost cities.—The cities of the tribe of Judah are given under four heads: (a) towards Edom; (b) in the Shephêlah, or plain of the coast (Joshua 15:33, &c.); (c) in the mountains (Joshua 15:48); (d) in the wilderness (Joshua 15:61). Of those in Joshua 15:21-32, the first twenty-nine, Conder identifies only four—viz., Adadah, Joshua 15:22 (Ad’adah); Kerioth Hezron (some see a trace of Kerioth in the sobriquet of Judas Is-cariot, the man of Kerioth), Joshua 15:25 (Hudîreh); Beer-sheba, Joshua 15:28 (Bîr es-seb’a); and Ain Rimmon, Joshua 15:32 ( Umm er-Rumânûn). It is not easy to say precisely how the twenty-nine are to be obtained from the thirty-three, but evidently some of…
Read Charles John Ellicott on Joshua 15 →AdamClarkeAdam Clarke's Commentary on the BibleVerse 31. Ziklag] The Philistines seem to have kept possession of this city till the time of David, who received it from Achish, king of Gath, 1 Samuel 27:6; after which time it remained in the possession of the kings of Judah.
Read AdamClarke on Joshua 15 →The verse in English, compared — 17 translations, and where they part company
Every translation on this page is a decision someone had to make and commit to. Read down a column and you see one translator's judgement; read across a row and you see the range the Greek actually allows. The BSB is the wording the rest of this page is measured against, so it is listed first.
Modern formal
Ziklag, Madmannah, Sansannah,
Ziklag, Madmannah, Sansannah,
Ziklag, Madmannah, Sansannah,
Ziklag, Madmannah, Sansannah,
Tyndale line
And Ziklag, and Madmannah, and Sansannah,
and Ziklag, and Madmannah, and Sansannah,
and Ziklag, and Madmannah, and Sansannah;
And Ziglag, and Madmannah, and Sansannah,
And Ziklag, and Madmanna, and Sansannah,
Strictly literal
and Ziklag, and Madmannah, and Sansanna,
and Ziklag, and Madmannah, and Sansannah,
and Ziklag, and Madmannah, and Sansannah,
And Ziklag, and Madmannah, and Sansannah,
Ziklag, Madmannah, Sansannah,
From the Latin
And Siceleg and Medemena and Sensenna,
Simplified
Ziklag, Madmannah, Sansannah,
And Ziklag, and Madmannah, and Sansannah;
Counted from the translations carried on this site, not from a survey of every English Bible. A rendering shared by many versions is usually inherited rather than independently arrived at — the Tyndale line in particular runs through most of them.
The sentence as the grammar sees it — from the MACULA Hebrew treebank
This is not our own analysis: it is the scholarly syntax tree for the verse, showing how the clause actually holds together.
Boxes are the grammarian's groupings — clause, noun phrase, prepositional phrase.
The four witnesses to this verse — Masoretic, Septuagint, Samaritan, Qumran
The Masoretic Text and the Septuagint agree on the names of the towns listed in this verse: צִקְלַג, מַדְמַנָּה, and סַנְסַנָּה. There are no significant variations between these texts.
וְצִֽקְלַ֥ג וּמַדְמַנָּ֖ה וְסַנְסַנָּֽה׃
3 of the 3 words are matched. This is the word-by-word correspondence, not the Septuagint's own sentence — its word order and its articles are its own.
Four traditions, not one. “On the leather” means the letters physically survive on the scroll, as against letters an editor has supplied to fill a hole in it — a restoration is a scholar’s reading, not a reading of the manuscript. Words in [square brackets] are supplied; the notes count them apart from what survives.
The map of this verse — what each word keeps company with
This is a map of two things, both counted rather than judged. Company kept: which words stand within three words of each of these, anywhere in the Hebrew Bible — the thicker the line, the more often the pair meet compared with chance. Built from: the words a word is made out of, taken from its own Strong’s entry. It is not a map of meaning: nothing here claims two words mean the same thing. Click any circle to see the numbers behind it.
Lexicons — every word in Joshua 15:31
One dossier per word, with every reference work grouped by kind — Hebrew lexicons, morphology, Bible dictionaries, topical chains and the English of the translators themselves. The verse sits at the head of each block with the word under study lit, so you never lose your place. The panel above gives the short answer; this is the long one, and it is the part of the page worth indexing.
Every entry below is the lexicographer's own text. On the Hebrew: Brown-Driver-Briggs entire and its gloss set, Strong's Hebrew Dictionary, and Tyndale House's Translators Brief lexicon. Where a cell says a work has no entry, that work genuinely has none for this word.
צִקְלַג (tsiq.lag) refers to Ziklag, a town in southern Judah, later assigned to Simeon. It is noted in the context of David's life, particularly as a city given to him by King Achish of Gath, where he resided with his warriors. The name is thought to mean "winding."
צִקְלַג and (צִיק׳) n.pr.loc. assigned to Judah, to Simeon; Philistine city given to David
base
H6860 צִקְלַג
6860 Tsiqlag tsik-lag'
or Tsiyqlag (1 Chronicles 12:1,20) {tsee-kel-ag'}; of
uncertain derivation: Tsiklag or Tsikelag, a place in
Palestine:--Ziklag.
see HEBREW for 020
צִקְלַג (tsiq.lag) — Ziklag.
§ Ziklag = "winding"
a town in the south of Judah, later allotted to Simeon; noted for its having been the city of David given to him by king Achish of Gath and his residence when he was joined by many of his mighty warriors and when he received word of the death of Saul
Conj | N-proper — Conjunction · noun properHC/Npl
zik'-lag (tsiqelagh, tsiqelagh (2Sa 1:1), tsiqelagh (1Ch 12:1,20); usually in the Septuagint Sekelak, or Sikelag): A town assigned (Jos 19:5; 1Ch 4:30) to Simeon, but in Jos 15:31 named, between Hornah and Madmannah, as one of the cities of the Negeb of Judah, "toward the border of Edom." It is said (1Sa 27:6) to have remained a royal city. In Ne 11:28 it is in the list of towns reinhabited by the returning children of Judah. Its chief associations are with David. Achish the Philistine king of Gath gave it to David…
Ziklag
A town in the Negeb, or south country of Judah (Josh. 15:31), in the possession of the Philistines when David fled to Gath from Ziph with all his followers. Achish, the king, assigned him Ziklag as his place of residence. There he dwelt for over a year and four months. From this time it pertained to the kings of Judah (1 Sam. 27:6). During his absence with his army to join the Philistine expedition against the Israelites (29:11), it was destroyed by the Amalekites (30:1, 2), whom David, however, pursued and utterly routed, returning all the captives (1 Sam. 30:26-31). Two days after his return from this expedition, David received tidings of the disastrous battle of Gilboa and of the death of Saul (
(winding), a place which possesses a special interest from its having been the residence and the private property of David. It is first mentioned in the catalogue of the towns of Judah in (Joshua 15:31) and occurs, in the same connection among the places which were allotted out of the territory of Judah to Simeon. (Joshua 19:5) We next encounter it in the possession of the Philistines (1 Samuel 27:6) when it was, at David’s request, bestowed upon him by Achish king of Gath. He resided there for a year and four months. (1 Samuel 27:6,7; 30:14,26; 1 Chronicles 12:1,20) It was there he received the news of Saul’s death. (
A city of Judah and Simeon, on the borders of the Philistines, Jos 15:31; 19:5, who held it until the time of Saul, when Achish king of Gath gave it to David. Hither many other refugees from Judah resorted, and David was thus enabled to aid Achish, and to chastise the Amalekites who had sacked Ziklag during his absence, 1Sa 27:1- 6; 30:1-31; Ne 11:28.
מַדְמַנָּה (Madmannah) refers to a location in southern Judah and is associated with the meaning "dunghill." It is noted as a town and also as a descendant of Caleb, mentioned in 1 Chronicles 2:49. The word is built from a variation of another term, indicating its geographical and familial significance.
מַדְמַנָּה
n.pr.loc. city of southern Judah
n.pr.m. descendant of Caleb
base
H4089 מַדְמַנָּה
4089 Madmannah mad-man-naw'
a variation for 4087; Madmannah, a place in
Palestine:--Madmannah.
see HEBREW for 04087
מַדְמַנָּה (mad.man.nah) — Madmannah.
Madmannah = "dunghill"
one of the towns in the south district of Judah
Also named: bet ham.mar.ka.vot (בֵּית מַרְכָּבוֹת "Beth-marcaboth" H1024)
מַדְמַנָּה (mad.man.nah) — Madmannah.
A man of the tribe of Judah living at the time of Divided Monarchy, only mentioned at 1Ch.2.49;
son of: Shaaph (H8174H)
§ Madmannah = "dunghill"
1) a descendant of Caleb
2) one of the towns in the south district of Judah
Conj | N-proper — Conjunction · noun properHC/Npl
mad-man'-a (madhmannah; Septuagint: Codex Vaticanus Macharim; Codex Alexandrinus Bedebena (Jos 15:31); Codex Vaticanus Marmena; Codex Alexandrinus Madmena (1Ch 2:49)): This town lay in the Negeb of Judah and is mentioned with Hormah and Ziklag. It is represented in Jos 19:5, etc., by Beth-marcaboth. Umm Deimneh, 12 miles North of Beersheba, has been proposed on etymological grounds (PEF, III, 392, 399, Sh XXIV).
Madmannah
Dunghill, the modern el-Minyay, 15 miles south-south-west of Gaza (Josh. 15:31; 1 Chr. 2:49), in the south of Judah. The Pal. Mem., however, suggest Umm Deimneh, 12 miles north-east of Beersheba, as the site.
(dunghill), one of the towns in the south district of Judah. (Joshua 15:31) In the time of Eusebius and Jerome it was called Menois, and was not far from Gaza. The first stage southward from Gaza is now el-Minyay , which is perhaps the modern representative of Menois, and therefore of Madmannah.
סַנְסַנָּה (san.san.nah) refers to a location in southern Judah, identified as Sansannah. It is noted as a feminine form related to a bough, possibly a palm branch, derived from a related term. The entries do not provide significant disagreement.
סַנְסַנָּה n.pr.loc. in S. Judah
base
H5578 סַנְסַנָּה
5578 Cancannah san-san-naw'
feminine of a form of 5577; a bough; Sansannah, a place in
Palestine:--Sansannah.
see HEBREW for 05577
סַנְסַנָּה (san.san.nah) — Sansannah.
§ Sansannah = "palm branch"
a town in southern Judah
Conj | N-proper — Conjunction · noun properHC/Npl
san-san'-a (cancannah; [Sansanna], or Sethennak): One of the uttermost cities in the Negeb of Judah (Jos 15:31), identical with Hazar-susah (Jos 19:5), one of the cities of Simeon, and almost certainly the same as Hazar-susim (1Ch 4:31). It cannot be said to have been identified with any certainty, though Simsim, "a good-sized village with well and pool, surrounded by gardens and having a grove of olives to the north," has been suggested (PEF, III, 260, Sh XX).
Sansannah
A palm branch, or a thorn bush, a town in the south (the negeb) of Judah (Josh. 15:31); called also Hazarsusah (19:5), or Hazar-susim (1 Chr. 4:31).
(palm branch), one of the towns in the south district of Judah, named in (Joshua 15:31) only.
bough or bramble of the enemy