Reference: Negeb,
Hastings
NEGEB, originally meaning 'the dry land,' is in most passages in the OT the name of a definite geographical area (De 1:7; 34:3; Jos 10:40; 12:8 etc.); the word is, however, used also in the sense of 'South' (Ge 13:14). The Negeb was often the scene of Abraham's wanderings (Ge 12:9; 13:1,8; 20:1); here Hagar was succoured by the angel (Ge 16:7,14); Isaac (Ge 24:62) and Jacob (Ge 37:1; 46:5) both dwelt there; through this district passed the spies (Nu 13:17,22). In Nu 13:29 the Negeb is described as belonging to the Amalekites. Later the land was allotted to Simeon, and its cities are enumerated (Jos 19:1-9); later they reverted to Judah (Jos 15:21-32). David was stationed by Achish at Ziklag on the borders of the Negeb (1Sa 27:6). At this time the Negeb is described as of several parts, the Negeb of Judah, of the Jerahmeelites, and of the Kenites (1Sa 27:10); while in 1Sa 30:14 we read of the Negeb of the Cherethites and of Caleb. Jeremiah (Jer 13:19) prophesied trouble as coming on the cities of this region, but on the return from captivity they too were to participate in the blessings (Jer 32:44; 33:13).
The district in question was an ill-defined tract of country lying S. of Hebron, and extending some 70 miles to the Tih or desert. It was bounded on the E. by the Dead Sea and the 'Ar
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, towards the south.
And Abram said to Lot, I pray thee let there be no contention between me and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen, for we are brethren.
And Jehovah said to Abram, after that Lot had separated himself from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, northward and southward and eastward and westward;
And the Angel of Jehovah found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur.
Therefore the well was named Beer-lahai-roi: behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.
And Abraham departed thence towards the south country, and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned at Gerar.
And Isaac had just returned from Beer-lahai-roi; for he was dwelling in the south country.
And Jacob rose up from Beer-sheba; and the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, and their little ones, and their wives, on the waggons that Pharaoh had sent to carry him.
And Moses sent them to search out the land of Canaan, and said to them, Go up this way by the south and go up into the hill-country,
And they went up by the south, and came to Hebron; and Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were there. Now Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.
Amalek dwells in the land of the south; and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill-country; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the side of the Jordan.
Turn and take your journey, and go to the hill-country of the Amorites, and unto all the neighbouring places in the plain, in the mountain, and in the lowland, and in the south, and by the seaside, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, unto the great river, the river Euphrates.
and the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm-trees, to Zoar.
And Joshua smote the whole country, the mountain, and the south, and the lowland, and the hill-slopes, and all their kings: he let none remain, but he utterly destroyed all that breathed, as Jehovah the God of Israel had commanded.
in the mountain, and in the lowland, and in the plain, and on the hill-slopes, and in the wilderness, and in the south: the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites:
The cities at the extremity of the tribe of the children of Judah, toward the border of Edom in the south, were: Kabzeel, and Eder, and Jagur, and Kinah, and Dimonah, and Adadah, read more. and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Jithnan, Ziph, and Telem, and Bealoth, and Hazor-hadattah, and Kerioth-Hezron, that is Hazor, Amam, and Shema, and Molada, and Hazar-gaddah, and Heshmon, and Beth-Pelet, and Hazar-Shual, and Beer-sheba, and Biziothiah; Baalah, and Ijim, and Ezem, and Eltolad, and Chesil, and Hormah, and Ziklag, and Madmannah, and Sansanna, and Lebaoth, and Shilhim, and Ain, and Rimmon: all the cities twenty-nine, and their hamlets.
And the second lot came forth to Simeon, for the tribe of the children of Simeon according to their families; and their inheritance was within the inheritance of the children of Judah. And they had in their inheritance Beer-sheba, and Sheba, and Moladah, read more. and Hazar-Shual, and Balah, and Ezem, and Eltolad, and Bethul, and Hormah, and Ziklag, and Beth-marcaboth, and Hazar-susah, and Beth-lebaoth, and Sharuhen: thirteen cities and their hamlets; Ain, Rimmon, and Ether, and Ashan: four cities and their hamlets; and all the hamlets that are round these cities to Baalath-beer, that is Ramah of the south. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Simeon according to their families. Out of the lot of the children of Judah was the inheritance of the children of Simeon; for the portion of the children of Judah was too great for them, and the children of Simeon inherited within their inheritance.
And Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep and oxen, and beasts of the second bearing, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not devote them to destruction; but everything that was mean and weak, that they destroyed utterly.
And Achish gave him Ziklag that day; therefore Ziklag belongs to the kings of Judah to this day.
And David smote the land, and left neither man nor woman alive, and took away the sheep, and the oxen, and the asses, and the camels, and the apparel, and returned, and came to Achish. So Achish said, Have ye not made a raid to-day? And David said, Against the south of Judah, and against the south of the Jerahmeelites, and against the south of the Kenites.
We made a raid against the south of the Cherethites, and against what belongs to Judah, and against the south of Caleb; and we burned Ziklag with fire.
The cities of the south are shut up, and there is none to open them; all Judah is carried away captive: it is wholly carried away captive.
Men shall buy fields for money, and subscribe the writings, and seal them, and take witnesses, in the land of Benjamin, and in the environs of Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the hill-country, and in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the south: for I will turn their captivity, saith Jehovah.