Use of the word
south in the Bible

Various words are translated as south in the Old Testament.

  1. Negev (Negeb)

    Hebrew: נֶגֶב —transliteration: negeb or Negev —meaning: south country; the Negev; south

    The southern area of the Land of Israel is an arid district through which lay the caravan route from central Israel to Egypt (Genesis 12:9; 13:1, 3; 46:1-6).

    “The Negeb [Negev) comprised a considerable but irregularly-shaped tract of country, its main portion stretching from the mountains and lowlands of Judah in the north to the mountains of Azazemeh in the south, and from the Dead Sea and southern Ghoron the east to the Mediterranean on the west.”

    And it passed on to Azmon and went out to the brook of Egypt, and the border ended at the sea. This shall be your south border. —Joshua 15:4

  2. darom

    Hebrew: דָּרוֹם —transliteration: darom —meaning: the south

    “Take possession of the sea and the south” (darom, Deuteronomy 33:23).

  3. yamin

    Hebrew: יָמִין —transliteration: yamin —meaning: right hand, or south, or southward

    “Set thy face toward the south,” that is the region on the right when you face east, the east being the direction of sunrise (Ezek. 20:46 KJV)

    In the case of the above verse south was the land of Teman and the Negev, and this verse uses three different words that can be translated as “south.”

    Son of man, set thy face toward the south [teman], and drop thy word toward the south [darom], and prophesy against the forest of the south [negeb] field —Ezek. 20:46 KJV

  4. cheder

    Hebrew: חֶדֶר —transliteration: cheder —meaning: a chamber; a room; a storehouse

    Out of the south [cheder] comes the storm,
    And out of the north the cold. —Job 37:9

    Here the word “south” is literally “chamber” (chamber) used in the sense of a treasury or storehouse (compare Job 38:22 (“Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail”); “Who brings forth the wind from His storehouses” Psalm 135:7).

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Article Version: September 19, 2024