Joshua 15:2

Jos 15:2 And their south border was from the shore of the salt sea, from the bay that looketh southward:

Ver. 2. And their south border.] See Num 34:2. Where God doth, as it were, draw a map of Canaan, and showeth the bounds of it on every side.

From the bay that looketh southward.] Heb., From the tongue: some render it from the promontory running out into the sea, in form of a tongue.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jos 15:2. The bay that looketh southward — Hebrew, the tongue; either a creek or arm of that sea, or a promontory, which by learned authors is sometimes called a tongue. Every sea is salt, but this had an extraordinary saltness, the effect of that fire and brimstone which destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15:2-4 Judah’s southern boundary extended well into the desert of the Negev, which had little if any settled population throughout the Old Testament period.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The Hebrew word signifieth tongue, whereby is meant either the arm of the Sea that cometh into the land, or a rock, or cape that goeth into the Sea.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

the bay--Hebrew, "tongue." It pushes its waters out in this form to a great distance [ROBINSON].

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 2. From the bay that looketh southward] These were the southern limits of the tribe of Judah, which commenced at the extremity of the lake Asphaltites or Dead Sea, and terminated at Sihor or the river of Egypt, and Mediterranean Sea; though some think it extended to the Nile.

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

(2) Their south border.—The southern boundary of Judah is thus described by Conder (Bible Handbook, p. 257):—“The south boundary of Judah is described from east to west, and became afterwards that of Simeon (see Jos_19:1). Although the points mentioned along the border are not all certainly known, there is no doubt that the great mountain wall which extends from the Dead Sea to the water-shed south of Rehoboth (Er-Ruheibeh) formed the natural and recognised boundary of Palestine, while the river of Egypt (Jos_15:4) is generally supposed to be the present Wâdy-el’-Arish, the northern boundary between Syria and Egypt. The north branch of this valley ( Wâdy-el-Abiad) rises near ‘Abdeh (Ebodah), south of Rehoboth, and thus carries on the boundary from the mountain rampart. A new identification of importance may be here mentioned, namely, Hezron (Jos_15:3), the next point to Kadesh-barnea on the west side. Kadesh has been shown to lie probably in the neighbourhood of Wâdy-el-Yemen, and immediately west of that valley is the mountain called Hadîreh, a name radically identical with Hezron.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2. And their south border] The general account of the position of the tribe of Judah is followed by a more particular description of its boundaries. And first the southern boundary is described.

from the shore] The southern border of Canaan has already been described in Num_34:3-5. It is here given in still greater detail. It commenced (a) from the “shore (or end) of the Salt Sea,” or more exactly, the tongue which turneth southward (see margin), “fro the tonge of it that biholdith to the south,” Wyclif. By this “tongue” is meant the southern portion of the Dead Sea reaching from the peninsula, which runs at a great distance from the Sea on the west of Karah, and extends quite to the south point at the so-called Salt-hill and Salt-Marsh.” Keil. “We were now in the most desolate and dreary corner of that desolate shore, without one trace of vegetable life, not even a stray salsola, or salicornia, to relieve the flat sand beds. The sand and loam of the shore was deep and heavy; our horses sank at each step above the fetlocks, and not until we were wet through, could we return to the Salt Mountains on our right.… The whole ridge (of the mountain) is of pure rock-salt, perhaps 200 feet high, and covered by a layer of chalky marl and natron, about 50 or 60 feet thick.… The salt deposit is similar in its nature and geological position to the salt rocks of Cheshire, and the new red sandstone of England.” Tristram’s Land of Moab, pp. 39, 40, 41.

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.

And their south border was from the shore of the salt sea,.... Sometimes called the dead sea, the sea of Sodom, and the lake Asphaltites, which, as Jarchi observes, was southeast of the land of Israel:

from the bay that looketh southward; or the "tongue", as the Hebrew, which the Targum and Kimchi interpret of a rock or promontory, the point that ran out into the sea, looking to the southeast.

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

Bay, (lingua,) tongue. Chaldean, "a promontory," or rather a gulf. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The bay, Heb. the tongue; by which he understands either a creek or arm of that sea; or a promontory, which by learned authors is sometimes called a tongue; it is not material to know which of these it was.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

2. Their south border seems to have fetched a curve or semicircle from the south end of the Dead Sea, sweeping far round by the wilderness of Zin, and thence northwesterly to the Mediterranean.

Salt sea — Now commonly called the Dead Sea, and supposed to cover the ancient vale of Siddim and the destroyed cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. See on Gen_14:3; Gen_19:25.

The bay that looketh southward — Literally, the tongue that turneth southward. The southernmost portion of the Dead Sea somewhat resembles a tongue in shape. Compare Isa_11:15.]

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The shore of the salt sea. Literally, the extremity, i.e. , the south extremity. From the bay. Literally, tongue (so margin). The LXX translates by lofia , ridge. The whole southern portion of the sea is cut off from the rest by a peninsula near Kerak, the ancient Kit of Moab. It is called the Lisan. Whoever was the writer of the Book of Joshua, these details prove him to have had an accurate acquaintance with the geography of Palestine. He was no priestly inventor of fables attached to the temple at Jerusalem. Canon Tristram gives a vivid description of the neighbourhood in his "Land of Israel," Jos 15. The ridge of Jebel Usdum one large mass of rock salt on the west of this "tongue" of water, the salt marsh of the Sebkha on the southwest, with its treeless waste a plant or a leaf could be seen save just under the hills and its mirage like that of Sahara, the barren outline of the Lisan itself, to the eastward rising to an elevation of from five to six hundred feet, and the fertile oasis of the Ghor-es-Safieh at the southern extremity of the Dead Sea, give a unique character to this remarkable region.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The bay - Hebrew. the tongue: either a creek or arm of that sea; or a promontory, which by learned authors is sometimes called a tongue. Every sea is salt, but this had an extraordinary saltness, the effect of that fire and brimstone which destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah: the ruins of which lie buried at the bottom of this dead water, which never was moved itself by any tides, nor had any living thing in it.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

And their southern border was. Referring to the southern border of Yehudah.

From the end of the Salt (Dead) Sea. Referring to the southeastern corner of Eretz Yisroel as stated in Parshas אֵלֶה מַסְעֵי

From the bay—of the sea.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.