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, into the Negeb.
And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray you, between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; for we are brethren.
And the LORD said unto Abram, after Lot was separated from him, Lift up now your eyes, and look from the place where you are northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward:
And the angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur.
Therefore the well was called Beerlahairoi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.
And Abraham journeyed from there toward the Negeb, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar.
And Jacob dwelt in the land in which his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan.
And Jacob rose up from Beersheba: and the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, and their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him.
And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Go up this way into the South, and go up into the mountains:
And they ascended through the South, and came unto Hebron; where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)
The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and along the Jordan.
Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all the places near there, in the plain, in the hills, and in the lowland, and in the south, and by the sea side, to the land of the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon, unto the great river, the river Euphrates.
And the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, unto Zoar.
So Joshua struck all the country of the hills, and of the South, and of the lowland, and of the slopes, and all their kings: he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the LORD God of Israel commanded.
In the mountains, and in the valleys, and in the lowland, and in the slopes, and in the wilderness, and in the south country; the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites:
And the furthermost cities 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 Ithnan, Ziph, and Telem, and Bealoth, And Hazor, Hadattah, and Kerioth, and Hezron, which is Hazor, Amam, and Shema, and Moladah, And Hazargaddah, and Heshmon, and Bethpelet, And Hazarshual, and Beersheba, and Biziothiah, Baalah, and Iim, and Ezem, And Eltolad, and Chesil, and Hormah, And Ziklag, and Madmannah, and Sansannah, And Lebaoth, and Shilhim, and Ain, and Rimmon: all the cities are twenty and nine, with their villages:
And the second lot came forth to Simeon, even 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 Beersheba, and Sheba, and Moladah, read more. And Hazarshual, and Balah, and Ezem, And Eltolad, and Bethul, and Hormah, And Ziklag, and Bethmarcaboth, and Hazarsusah, And Bethlebaoth, and Sharuhen; thirteen cities and their villages: Ain, Remmon, and Ether, and Ashan; four cities and their villages: And all the villages that were round about these cities to Baalathbeer, Ramath of the South. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Simeon according to their families. Out of the portion of the children of Judah was the inheritance of the children of Simeon: for the portion of the children of Judah was too much for them: therefore the children of Simeon had their inheritance within their inheritance.
But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but everything that was despised and worthless, that they destroyed utterly.
Then Achish gave him Ziklag that day: therefore Ziklag has belonged unto the kings of Judah unto this day.
And David struck the land, and left neither man nor woman alive, and took away the sheep, and the oxen, and the donkeys, and the camels, and the apparel, and returned, and came to Achish. And Achish said, where have you made a raid today? And David said, Against the south of Judah, and against the south of the Jerahmeelites, and against the south of the Kenites.
We made an invasion upon the south area of the Cherethites, and upon the territory which belongs to Judah, and upon the south area of Caleb; and we burned Ziklag with fire.
The cities of the south shall be shut up, and none shall open them: Judah shall be carried away captive, all of it, it shall be wholly carried away captive.
Men shall buy fields for money, and sign deeds, and seal them, and take witnesses in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the mountains, and in the cities of the valley, and in the cities of the south: for I will cause their captivity to return, says the LORD.