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; Judg 3:9), achieved the conquest, and gained Achsah as his wife. She was not satisfied with the portion her father gave her, and as she was proceeding toward her new home, she “lighted from off her ass” and said to him, “Give me a blessing [i.e., a dowry]: for thou hast given me a south land” (Josh 15:19, A.V.); or, as in the Revised Version, “Thou hast set me in the land of the south”, i.e., in the Negeb, outside the rich valley of Hebron, in the dry and barren land. “Give me also springs of water. And he gave her the upper springs, and the nether springs.”
Debir has been identified with the modern Edh-Dhaheriyeh, i.e., “the well on the ridge”, to the south of Hebron.
(2.) A place near the “valley of Achor” (Josh 15:7), on the north boundary of Judah, between Jerusalem and Jericho.
(3.) The king of Eglon, one of the five Canaanitish kings who were hanged by Joshua (Josh 10:3, Josh 10:23) after the victory at Gibeon. These kings fled and took refuge in a cave at Makkedah. Here they were kept confined till Joshua returned from the pursuit of their discomfited armies, when he caused them to be brought forth, and “Joshua smote them, and slew them, and hanged them on five trees” (26).
Named in the Bible
12 verses
- Joshua 10:3 Wherefore Adonizedek king of Jerusalem sent unto Hoham king of Hebron, and unto Piram king of Jarmuth, and unto Japhia king of Lachish, and unto Debir king of Eglon, saying,
- Joshua 10:38 And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to Debir; and fought against it:
- Joshua 10:39 And he took it, and the king thereof, and all the cities thereof; and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and utterly destroyed all the souls that were therein; he left none remaining: as he had done to Hebron, so he did to Debir, and to the king thereof; as he had done also to Libnah, and to her king.
- Joshua 11:21 And at that time came Joshua, and cut off the Anakims from the mountains, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from all the mountains of Judah, and from all the mountains of Israel: Joshua destroyed them utterly with their cities.
- Joshua 12:13 The king of Debir, one; the king of Geder, one;
- Joshua 13:26 And from Heshbon unto Ramathmizpeh, and Betonim; and from Mahanaim unto the border of Debir;
- Joshua 15:7 And the border went up toward Debir from the valley of Achor, and so northward, looking toward Gilgal, that is before the going up to Adummim, which is on the south side of the river: and the border passed toward the waters of Enshemesh, and the goings out thereof were at Enrogel:
- Joshua 15:15 And he went up thence to the inhabitants of Debir: and the name of Debir before was Kirjathsepher.
- Joshua 15:49 And Dannah, and Kirjathsannah, which is Debir,
- Joshua 21:15 And Holon with her suburbs, and Debir with her suburbs,
- Judges 1:11 And from thence he went against the inhabitants of Debir: and the name of Debir before was Kirjathsepher:
- 1 Chronicles 6:58 And Hilen with her suburbs, Debir with her suburbs,
From Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897), by Matthew George Easton.
