Joshua 12:20

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

the king of Shimron-meron, one; the king of Achshaph, one;

World English Bible · Public Domain

Highlights

1 first appearance in the Hebrew Bible

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Word by word

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שִׁמְר֤וֹן

Shimrôwn Mᵉrʼôwn

H8112

“Shimron-meron”

Noun, Proper

Appears 2× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears here

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H8110 and a derivative of H4754

TWOT: None

Shimron-meron = "watch-height of Meron" - a Canaanite royal city allotted to Zebulun - probably the same as 'Shimron'

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

7: words
4: distinct lemmas
Historical: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is שִׁמְר֤וֹן Shimron-meron H8112 — appearing just 2 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

First appearance in Scripture

This word makes its first canonical appearance in the Hebrew Bible here:

שִׁמְר֤וֹן Shimron-meron H8112

Grammatical profile

5 nouns
2 adjectives

Repetition

Words recur within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

מֶ֣לֶךְ king H4428 ×2
שִׁמְר֤וֹן Shimron-meron H8112 ×2
אֶחָ֔ד one H259 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 10 words from the Hebrew and 12 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 7 Hebrew tokens and 6 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Joshua 12:20 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Joshua 11:1 It happened, when Jabin king of Hazor heard of it, that he sent to Jobab king of Madon, and to the king of Shimron, and to the king of Achshaph,
Joshua 19:15 and Kattath, and Nahalal, and Shimron, and Idalah, and Bethlehem: twelve cities with their villages.
Joshua 19:25 Their border was Helkath, and Hali, and Beten, and Achshaph,

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Joshua 12:20 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

מֶ֣לֶךְ שִׁמְר֤וֹן מְראוֹן֙ אֶחָ֔ד מֶ֥לֶךְ אַכְשָׁ֖ף אֶחָֽד

the king of Shimron-meron, one; the king of Achshaph, one;

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Joshua 12:20 Septuagint · lemma form

βασιλεύς συμοων βασιλεύς μαρρων βασιλεύς αζιφ

the king of Symoon, the king of Mambroth, the king of Aziph,

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Jonathan Prophets (Joshua–Malachi)

מַלְכָּא דְשִׁמְרוֹן מְראוֹן חָד מַלְכָּא דְאַכְשָׁף חָד:

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Jonathan — Aramaic: “Mikraot Gedolot” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “London "Chaldee Paraphrase," 1871” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Joshua 12:20 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 20. Shimron-meron] See Clarke on Jos 11:1.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

20. Shimron-meron] Ch. Jos_11:1. Achshaph] Jos_11:1.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

The king of Shimronmeron, one,.... See Jos 11:1, this place fell to the tribe of Zebulun, Jos 19:15,

the king of Achshaph, one; see Jos 11:1; this city fell to the lot of Asher, Jos 19:25.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Joshua, in the Historical, opens this verse with 7 words (4 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is Shimrôwn Mᵉrʼôwn (“Shimron-meron”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word Shimrôwn Mᵉrʼôwn carries the sense “Shimron-meron.” How does it shape the verse?
This is the first place “Shimron-meron” appears in Scripture (first appears here). What does its debut here establish?
How does Joshua 11:1, which shares this passage’s theme, read alongside this verse?
What does the repetition of “king” (2× in this one verse) do in this verse?
These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
Compare how Adam Clarke's Commentary and The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

1 word makes its first canonical appearance in Scripture here.
This verse counts 7 Hebrew ↔ 6 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 6 words in this verse.
“king” occurs 2× in this single verse.
4 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 7 words in this verse.