Your western border will be the coastline of the Great Sea; this will be your boundary on the west.
Parallel translations
- WEB “‘For the western border, you shall have the great sea and its border. This shall be your west border.
- KJV And as for the western border, ye shall even have the great sea for a border: this shall be your west border.
- NKJV ‘As for the western border, you shall have the Great Sea for a border; this shall be your western border.
- NASB ‘As for the western border, you shall have the Great Sea, that is, its coastline; this shall be your western border.
- NLT “Your western boundary will be the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The western border is the Great Sea, the Mediterranean. The coast forms the entire western boundary of the inheritance.
Overview
Using the sea as the western limit gave Israel a clear and stable boundary needing no further markers. The Mediterranean coastline framed the land's relationship to the wider world of nations. This natural border, set by God, marked the extent of the territory He had appointed for His people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Josh 23:4See, I have allotted as an inheritance to your tribes these remaining nations, including all the nations I have already cut off, from the Jordan westward to the Great Sea.
- Josh 15:12And the western border was the coastline of the Great Sea. These are the boundaries around the clans of the descendants of Judah.
- Ezek 47:20And on the west side, the Great Sea will be the boundary up to a point opposite Lebo-hamath. This will be the western boundary.
- Ezek 47:10Fishermen will stand by the shore; from En-gedi to En-eglaim they will spread their nets to catch fish of many kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea.
- Ezek 47:15This shall be the boundary of the land: On the north side it will extend from the Great Sea by way of Hethlon through Lebo-hamath to Zedad,
- Josh 15:47Ashdod, with its towns and villages; Gaza, with its towns and villages, as far as the Brook of Egypt and the coastline of the Great Sea.
- Josh 1:4Your territory shall extend from the wilderness and Lebanon to the great River Euphrates—all the land of the Hittites—and west as far as the Great Sea.
- Josh 9:1Now when news of this reached all the kings west of the Jordan—those in the hill country, the foothills, and all along the coast of the Great Sea toward Lebanon (the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites)—
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
In the wilderness Christ is the water from the rock, the bronze serpent lifted up that the dying might look and live (John 3:14), and the star and scepter that Balaam saw rising out of Jacob.
How Numbers 34:6 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.