John Gill Commentary Joshua 19:15

"and Kattath, and Nahalal, and Shimron, and Idalah, and Bethlehem: twelve cities with their villages." — Joshua 19:15 (ASV)

And Kattath, and Nahallal
Of the two first of these we read nowhere else, but in (Joshua 21:34Joshua 21:35) (Judges 1:30) ;

and Shimron
was a royal city, the king of which Joshua took and hanged, (Joshua 11:1) (12:20) ;

and Idalah
is a place Bochart conjectures ^F20 where the goddess Venus was worshipped, Idalia being one of her names;

and Bethlehem
is a different place from that which was the birthplace of our Lord, called Bethlehem of Judah, to distinguish it from this:

twelve cities with their villages ;
more are named, but some of them belonged to other tribes, and only lay on the borders of this; and others might not be properly cities, but small towns.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F20: Canaan, l. 1. c. 3. col. 356.