Joshua 15:49 — Word Study
WLCוְדַנָּ֥ה וְקִרְיַת־ סַנָּ֖ה הִ֥יא דְבִֽר׃
BSADannahDannâh△ [judgement, God's verdict] Kiriath-sannahQiryath Çannâh [city of the book] (that ishûwʼ DebirDᵉbîyr [an Amoritish king's name, a town in Judah]
| Greek | English | Parsing |
|---|---|---|
| וְדַנָּ֥ה | and Dannah | Conjunction, noun proper |
| וְקִרְיַת־ | and Kiriath | Conjunction, noun proper |
| סַנָּ֖ה | Sannah | Noun proper |
| הִ֥יא | that | Pronoun |
| דְבִֽר׃ | [is] Debir | Noun proper |
Every word in the verse. Click a row to open it in the panel on the left.
| BSB | Dannah, Kiriath-sannah (that is, Debir), |
| KJV | And Dannah, and Kirjath-sannah, which is Debir, |
| ASV | and Dannah, and Kiriath-sannah (the same is Debir), |
| YLT | and Dannah, and Kirjath-Sannah (it [is] Debir) |
| WEB | Dannah, Kiriath Sannah (which is Debir), |
| BBE | And Dannah, and Kiriath-sannah (which is Debir); |
Translations agree on the names of the towns listed in this verse.
The structure is straightforward, presenting the towns followed by their identification.
6 commentators on this verse
Gill, Jamieson, Poole, Ellicott & more — read them ›
clause
subjectהִיא
The sentence as the grammar sees it Open the tree ›
1 of 5 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 15:49
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 15:49 lists towns allocated to the tribe of Judah, specifically in the hill country. This verse includes Dannah and Kiriath-sannah, which is also known as Debir, highlighting the geographical and cultural significance of these locations in the biblical narrative.
Cross References
| Reference | Text (BSB) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joshua 15:15 | From there he marched against the inhabitants of Debir (formerly known as Kiriath-sepher). |
| 2 | Judges 1:11 | From there they marched against the inhabitants of Debir (formerly known as Kiriath-sepher). |
The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — 2 references, hung on the phrase they belong to
The Key Word — דַּנָּה, ve.da.Nahgenerated
The name דַּנָּה (Dannah) comes from the root meaning 'to judge' or 'to bring judgment.' It indicates a town in the hill country of Judah, possibly south of Hebron. The name reflects a sense of divine judgment or verdict.
Dannah is mentioned only once in the Bible, making it a unique reference point within the context of the tribal allotments in Joshua. The significance of the name suggests a connection to the spiritual and judicial authority of God in the region.
How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated
Translations agree on the names of the towns.
Sentence Structuregenerated
The main clause is introduced by the subject הִ֥יא, that, followed by the predicate דְבִֽר, [is] Debir. The structure emphasizes the identification of Kiriath-sannah with Debir, highlighting its significance.
The sentence is straightforward, with a clear subject-predicate relationship that connects the two towns.
Septuagint Backgroundgenerated
In the Septuagint, the Hebrew word דְּבִֽר is rendered as δαβιρ, indicating a direct translation that maintains the original meaning. This choice suggests continuity in the understanding of the town's name across both the Hebrew and Greek texts.
The use of δαβιρ aligns with the Hebrew context, reinforcing the significance of this location in both traditions.
In plain words — the whole versegenerated
Joshua 15:49 lists the towns of Dannah and Kiriath-sannah, which is also known as Debir. These towns are part of the territory given to the tribe of Judah, emphasizing their importance in the biblical landscape.
Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated
Dannah means 'judgment' or 'God has judged', reflecting its significance as a town in Judah.
Kiriath-sannah is another name for Debir, which was a significant location in the territory of Judah.
These towns are situated in the hill country of Judah, highlighting their strategic and cultural importance to the Israelites.
This verse is part of the allocation of land to the tribes of Israel, marking the fulfillment of God's promises to His people.
Reflection Questionsgenerated
- What can we learn from the names of these towns about God's judgment and provision?
- How do the locations mentioned in this verse relate to the overall narrative of the Israelites' conquest of Canaan?
- In what ways does understanding the geographical context enhance our reading of the biblical text?
- How does the identification of Kiriath-sannah with Debir inform our understanding of biblical history?
Commentators on this verse — 6 expositors, verse by verse
Each of these wrote on Joshua 15:49 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.
John Gill1697–1771Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleAnd Dannah,.... Dannah is not mentioned elsewhere, and Kirjathsannah, which [is] Debir; Kirjathsannah had three names, this and Debir, and Kirjathsepher; [See comments on Joshua 15:15]; all which are
Read John Gill on Joshua 15 →Robert Jamieson1802–1880Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's CommentaryAnd Dannah, and Kirjath-sannah, which is Debir, Dannah , [Septuagint, Renna]. Judging from the associated towns, it stood south or southwest of Hebron.
Read Robert Jamieson on Joshua 15 →Matthew Poole1624–1679Matthew Poole's Commentary on the Holy BibleDebir is also called Kirjath-sepher, above, . So this city had three names.
Read Matthew Poole on Joshua 15 →Charles John Ellicott1819–1905Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(48-51) Nine of these eleven are identified.
Read Charles John Ellicott on Joshua 15 →AdamClarkeAdam Clarke's Commentary on the BibleVerse 49. Kirjath-sannah] See Clarke on Joshua 15:15.
Read AdamClarke on Joshua 15 →Daniel Denison Whedon1808–1885Whedon's Commentary on the Bible49. Kirjath-sannah — The English reader will be assisted in his understanding of many of these names if he remembers that Kirjath means city. The word following completes the sense, as Kirjath-sannah, city of literature.
Read Daniel Denison Whedon 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
Dannah, Kiriath-sannah (that is, Debir),
Dannah, Kiriath Sannah (which is Debir),
Dannah, Kiriath-sannah (that is, Debir),
Dannah, Kiriath Sannah (that is, Debir),
Tyndale line
And Dannah, and Kirjath-sannah, which is Debir,
and Dannah, and Kiriath-sannah (the same is Debir),
and Dannah, and Kiriath-sannah (the same is Debir);
And Dannah, and Kirjath-sannah, which is Debir,
And Dannah, and Kiriath-sannath (which is Debir)
Strictly literal
and Dannah, and Kirjath-sannah, that is, Debir,
and Dannah, and Kirjath-Sannah (it [is] Debir)
and Dannah, and Kirjath-Sannah (it [is] Debir),
And Dannah and Kiryath-sannah, which is Debir,
Dannah, Kiriath Sannah (that is, Debir),
From the Latin
And Danna and Cariath-senna, this is Dabir:
Simplified
Dannah, Kiriath-sannah (or Debir),
And Dannah, and Kiriath-sannah (which is Debir);
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 largely agree on the wording of this verse, with four of the five words matched. The Septuagint provides a Greek rendering that aligns closely with the Hebrew, maintaining the integrity of the original text.
וְדַנָּ֥ה וְקִרְיַת־ סַנָּ֖ה הִ֥יא דְבִֽר׃
4 of the 5 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 15:49
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.
דַּנָּה (Dannah) refers to a location in the hill country of Judah, likely situated south or southwest of Hebron. The name is associated with the meanings 'thou hast judged' or 'judgment.' It appears in the Old Testament in Joshua 15:49.
דַּנָּה n.pr.loc. a city of Judah ‘in the hill country,‘ Jos 15:49
ref
H1837 דַּנָּה
1837 Dannah dan-naw'
of uncertain derivation; Dannah, a place in
Palestine:--Dannah.
דַּנָּה (dan.nah) — Dannah.
§ Dannah = "thou hast judged" or "judgement"
a town in the hill country of Judah, probably south or southwest of Hebron
Conj | N-proper — Conjunction · noun properHC/Npl
dan'-a (dannah): One of the cities in the hill country of Judah (Jos 15:49) between Socoh and Kiriath-sannah (Debir), probably Idhna--the Iedna of the Onom--8 miles W. of Hebron. See PEF, III, 305, 330.
Dannah
Murmuring, a city (Josh. 15:49) in the mountains of Judah about 8 miles south-west of Hebron.
a city in the mountains of Judah, (Joshua 15:49) and probably south or southwest of Hebron. No trace of its name has been discovered.
judging
קִרְיַת־סֵ֫פֶר n.pr.loc. in S. Judah
base
H7158 קִרְיַת־סֵ֫פֶר, קִרְיַת סַנָּה
7158 Qiryath Cannah keer-yath' san-naw'
or Qiryath Cepher {keer-yath' say-fer}; from 7151 and a
simpler feminine from the same as 5577, or (for the latter
name) 5612; city of branches, or of a book; Kirjath-Sannah or
Kirjath-Sepher, a place in Palestine:--Kirjath-sannah,
Kirjath-sepher.
see HEBREW for 07151
see HEBREW for 05577
see HEBREW for 05612
קִרְיַת־סֵ֫פֶר (qir.yat san.nah) — Kiriath-sannah.
Kirjath-sepher or Kirjath-sannah = "city of the book"
a town in the mountains of Judah to the west of Hebron
Another name of de.vir (דְּבִיר "Debir" H1688A)
N-proper — Conjunction · noun properHC/Npl
kir'-i-ath (qiryath, "city"; the King James Version Kirjath): Mentioned (Jos 18:28) as a city of Benjamin; has been identified with Kuriet el `Enab, "town of grapes," a prosperous town on the highroad between Jerusalem and Jaffa; it is sometimes spoken of by the inhabitants as Qurieh. It is, however, generally thought that Kiriath here stands for KIRIATH-JEARIM (which see). See P E F, III, 132, Sh XVII.
קִרְיַת־סֵ֫פֶר n.pr.loc. in S. Judah
base
H7158 קִרְיַת־סֵ֫פֶר, קִרְיַת סַנָּה
7158 Qiryath Cannah keer-yath' san-naw'
or Qiryath Cepher {keer-yath' say-fer}; from 7151 and a
simpler feminine from the same as 5577, or (for the latter
name) 5612; city of branches, or of a book; Kirjath-Sannah or
Kirjath-Sepher, a place in Palestine:--Kirjath-sannah,
Kirjath-sepher.
see HEBREW for 07151
see HEBREW for 05577
see HEBREW for 05612
קִרְיַת־סֵ֫פֶר (qir.yat san.nah) — Kiriath-sannah.
Kirjath-sepher or Kirjath-sannah = "city of the book"
a town in the mountains of Judah to the west of Hebron
Another name of de.vir (דְּבִיר "Debir" H1688A)
HNpl — Noun properHNpl
הוּא (hu) is a third-person singular pronoun meaning he, she, or it, used for emphasis or when no verb is present. It can also refer to oneself or serve as a demonstrative pronoun. The word has various nuances, including resuming the subject with emphasis or expressing it unobtrusively. It can indicate 'that' or 'those' when used with the definite article.
הוּא m. הִיא f., pron. of the 3rd ps. sing. he, she, used also (in both genders) for the neuter it
an emph. he (she, it, they), sometimes equivalent to himself (herself, itself, themselves), or (esp. with the art.) that (those)
It resumes the subj. with emph.
Where, however, the pron. follows the pred., its position gives it the minimum of emphasis, and it expresses (or resumes) the subject as unobtrusively as possible
It anticipates (as it seems) the subject
As an emph. predicate, of God
In a neuter sense, that, it (of an action, occurrence, matte, etc.)
With the art.: so regularly when joined to a subst. defined itself by the art.
base
H1931 הוּא, הִיא he, she, used also (in both genders) for the neuter it . an emph. he (she, it, they), sometimes equivalent to himself (herself, itself, themselves), or (esp. with the art.) that (those)
. It resumes the subj. with emph.
. Where, however, the pron. follows the pred., its position gives it the minimum of emphasis, and it expresses (or resumes) the subject as unobtrusively as possible
. It anticipates (as it seems) the subject
. As an emph. predicate, of God
. In a neuter sense, that, it (of an action, occurrence, matte, etc.)
. With the art.: so regularly when joined to a subst. defined itself by the art.
1931 huw' hoo
of which the feminine (beyond the Pentateuch) is hiyw {he}; a
primitive word, the third person pronoun singular, he (she or
it); only expressed when emphatic or without a verb; also
(intensively) self, or (especially with the article) the same;
sometimes (as demonstrative) this or that; occasionally
(instead of copula) as or are:--he, as for her, him(-self),
it, the same, she (herself), such, that (...it), these, they,
this, those, which (is), who.
הוּא (hu) — he/she/it.
pron 3p s
1) he, she, it
1a) himself (with emphasis)
1b) resuming subj with emphasis
1c) (with minimum emphasis following predicate)
1d) (anticipating subj)
1e) (emphasising predicate)
1f) that, it (neuter) demons pron
2) that (with article)
Pron — PronounHPp3fs
דְּבִיר (deb-eer) refers to both a king of Eglon and a geographical location in ancient Palestine, specifically a town in the mountains of Judah and another in Gilead east of the Jordan. The term is associated with meanings like 'sanctuary' and 'not a pasture.' There is some overlap in naming, as it is also linked to Kiriath-sannah and Lo-debar.
דְּבִיר
n. pr. m. king of Eglon
n. pr. loc.
N. border of Judah
town of the Gadites
a royal city of Canaanites
base
לִדְבִר n.pr.loc. only in Jos 13:26; E. of Jordan, in tribe of Gad
ref
H1688a דְּבִיר . n. pr. m. king of Eglon
. n. pr. loc. N. border of Judah
H1688b לִדְבִר E. of Jordan, in tribe of Gad
1688 Dbiyr deb-eer'
or (shortened) Dbir (Josh. 13:26 (but see 3810)) {deb-eer'};
the same as 1687; Debir, the name of an Amoritish king and of
two places in Palestine:--Debir.
see HEBREW for 03810
see HEBREW for 01687
דְּבִיר (de.vir) — Debir.
Debir = "sanctuary"
a town in the mountains of Judah west of Hebron and given to the priests and a city of refuge
Also named: qir.yat san.nah (קִרְיַת־סֵ֫פֶר "Kiriath-sannah" H7158)
לִדְבִר (lid.vir) — Debir.
Lo-debar = "not a pasture"
a town in Manasseh in Gilead east of the Jordan
Another name of lo de.var (לֹא דְבָר "Lo-debar" H3810)
דְּבִיר (de.vir) — Debir.
Lo-debar = "not a pasture"
a town in Manasseh in Gilead east of the Jordan
דְּבִיר (de.vir) — Debir.
A man living before Israel's Monarchy, only mentioned at Jos.10.3
§ Lo-debar = "not a pasture"
a town in Manasseh in Gilead east of the Jordan
N-proper — Noun properHNpl
Debir
Oracle town; sanctuary. (1.) One of the eleven cities to the west of Hebron, in the highlands of Judah (Josh. 15:49; Judg. 1:11-15). It was originally one of the towns of the Anakim (Josh. 15:15), and was also called Kirjath-sepher (q.v.) and Kirjath-sannah (49). Caleb, who had conquered and taken possession of the town and district of Hebron (Josh. 14:6-15), offered the hand of his daughter to any one who would successfully lead a party against Debir. Othniel, his younger brother (Judg. 1:13; 3:9), achieved the conquest, and gained Achsah as his wife. She was not satisfied with the portion her father gave her, and…
king of Eglon; one of the five kings hanged by Joshua. (Joshua 10:3,23) (B.C. 1440.)
A word, an oracle, Jud 1:11, a place called also KIRJATH-SEPHER, a city of books; and KIRJATH-SANNAH, a city of literature, Jos 5:15,15. Judging from the names, it appears to have been some sacred place among the Canaanites, and a repository of their records. It was a city in the south-west part of Judea, conquered from the Anakim by Joshua, but recaptured by the Canaanites, and resubdued by Othniel, and afterwards given to the priests, Jos 10:38,39 15:15-17 21:15. Its site is wholly lost. There was another Debir in Gad, and a third on the border of Benjamin, Jos 13:26 15:7.
an orator; a word