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
So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, he and his wife and all that belonged to him, and Lot with him.
So Abram said to Lot, "Please let there be no strife between you and me, nor between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are brothers.
The LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, "Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward;
Now 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 Beer-lahai-roi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.
Now Abraham journeyed from there toward the land of the Negev, and settled between Kadesh and Shur; then he sojourned in Gerar.
Now Jacob lived in the land where his father had sojourned, in the land of Canaan.
Then Jacob arose from Beersheba; and the sons of Israel carried their father Jacob and their little ones and their wives in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him.
When Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, he said to them, "Go up there into the Negev; then go up into the hill country.
When they had gone up into the Negev, they came to Hebron where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, the descendants of Anak were (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)
"Amalek is living in the land of the Negev and the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites are living in the hill country, and the Canaanites are living by the sea and by the side of the Jordan."
'Turn and set your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites, and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country and in the lowland and in the Negev and by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.
and the Negev and the plain in the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar.
Thus Joshua struck all the land, the hill country and the Negev and the lowland and the slopes and all their kings He left no survivor, but he utterly destroyed all who breathed, just as the LORD, the God of Israel, had commanded.
in the hill country, in the lowland, in the Arabah, on the slopes, and in the wilderness, and in the Negev; the Hittite, the Amorite and the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite:
Now the cities at the extremity of the tribe of the sons 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-hezron (that is, Hazor), Amam and Shema and Moladah, and Hazar-gaddah and Heshmon and Beth-pelet, and Hazar-shual 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; in all, twenty-nine cities with their villages.
Then the second lot fell to Simeon, to the tribe of the sons of Simeon according to their families, and their inheritance was in the midst of the inheritance of the sons of Judah. So they had as their inheritance Beersheba or 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 with their villages; Ain, Rimmon and Ether and Ashan; four cities with their villages; and all the villages which were around these cities as far as Baalath-beer, Ramah of the Negev. This was the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Simeon according to their families. The inheritance of the sons of Simeon was taken from the portion of the sons of Judah, for the share of the sons of Judah was too large for them; so the sons of Simeon received an inheritance in the midst of Judah's inheritance.
But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were not willing to destroy them utterly; but everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.
So Achish gave him Ziklag that day; therefore Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day.
David attacked the land and did not leave a man or a woman alive, and he took away the sheep, the cattle, the donkeys, the camels, and the clothing. Then he returned and came to Achish. Now Achish said, "Where have you made a raid today?" And David said, "Against the Negev of Judah and against the Negev of the Jerahmeelites and against the Negev of the Kenites."
"We made a raid on the Negev of the Cherethites, and on that which belongs to Judah, and on the Negev of Caleb, and we burned Ziklag with fire."
The cities of the Negev have been locked up, And there is no one to open them; All Judah has been carried into exile, Wholly carried into exile.
'Men will buy fields for money, sign and seal deeds, and call in witnesses in the land of Benjamin, in the environs of Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland and in the cities of the Negev; for I will restore their fortunes,' declares the LORD."