‘As for the western border, you shall have the Great Sea, that is, its coastline; this shall be your western border.
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.
- BSB Your western border will be the coastline of the Great Sea; this will be your boundary on the west.
- NKJV ‘As for the western border, you shall have the Great Sea for a border; 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 23:4Behold, I have allotted to you these nations that remain, to be an inheritance for your tribes, from the Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, even to the great sea toward the going down of the sun.
- Josh 15:12The west border was to the shore of the great sea. This is the border of the children of Judah according to their families.
- Ezek 47:20The west side shall be the great sea, from the south border as far as over against the entrance of Hamath. This is the west side.
- Ezek 47:10It shall happen, that fishermen shall stand by it: from En Gedi even to En Eglaim shall be a place for the spreading of nets; their fish shall be after their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many.
- Ezek 47:15This shall be the border of the land: On the north side, from the great sea, by the way of Hethlon, to the entrance of Zedad;
- Josh 15:47Ashdod, its towns and its villages; Gaza, its towns and its villages; to the brook of Egypt, and the great sea with its coastline.
- Josh 1:4From the wilderness, and this Lebanon, even to the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your border.
- Josh 9:1When all the kings who were beyond the Jordan, in the hill country, and in the lowland, and on all the shore of the great sea in front of Lebanon, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, heard of it
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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.