place
Heshbon
חֶשְׁבּוֹן
Heshbon, an Amorite city conquered by Moses (Num.21.25-30), was allotted to Reuben (Num.32.37; Josh 13:17) but later given to the Levites (Josh 21:39); it was a significant city in the region (Isa.15.4; 16:8-9; Jer.48.2, 34, 45; 49:3).
- verses
- 37
- first named
- Numbers 21:25
- last named
- Jeremiah 49:3
- feature
- settlement
- coordinates
- 31.80°N · 35.81°E
Tell Hesban (OpenBible)
Scholarship offers 3 identifications for this place. The leading one is shown; the others are recorded in the gazetteer.
Description
Heshbon in the text
Heshbon was a prominent Amorite city located about 50 miles east of Jerusalem, in what is now western Jordan. It was the capital of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who had taken it from the Moabites (Num.21.26-30). During the Israelites' journey to Canaan, Moses conquered Heshbon and its surrounding territories (Num.21.25, 34; Deut 1:4; 2:24-30; 3:2, 6; 4:46; 29:7). The city was initially allotted to the tribe of Reuben (Num.32.3, 37; Josh 13:10, 17) but was later given to the tribe of Gad (Josh 13:26) and then to the Levites (Josh 21:39; 1Ch.6.81). Heshbon was a significant city in the region, mentioned in various contexts throughout the Bible (Josh 9:10; 12:2, 5; Judg 11:19, 26; Neh.9.22; Sng.7.4; Isa.15.4; 16:8-9; Jer.48.2, 34, 45; 49:3). Its ruins, known as Hesban, have been excavated by archaeologists, revealing its rich history from biblical times through the Byzantine period.
Relations
Direct connections
Every entity the graph places in a stated relation with this one, grouped by the kind of link. Each relation is authored once and its inverse derived, so both ends always agree. Rows marked “registry” come from the identity spine rather than from a verse, and a row marked “which bearer is the source’s decision” is one where the name could have meant more than one person. The last group is not a relation at all — it counts the events two entities stand in together.
The pattern
Where Heshbon is named
Every book of the corpus in the order it is read, each as wide as the chapters it holds. A bar is the verses of that book which write the name, and the flat stretches are as much of the answer as the bars.
37 verses across 9 of 66 books; 57 write the name nowhere. Named in Numbers (8), Deuteronomy (8), Joshua (9), Judges (2), 1 Chronicles (1), Nehemiah (1), Song of Songs (1), Isaiah (3) and Jeremiah (4).
Read it
Where to read it
Every verse of the text carried here that names this entity — 37, across 9 books. The name is written 38 times in them.
Numbers8 verses
Deuteronomy8 verses
Joshua9 verses
Judges2 verses
1 Chronicles1 verse
Nehemiah1 verse
Song of Songs1 verse
Isaiah3 verses
Jeremiah4 verses
Onward
Where this page goes
Nothing in the graph stands one hop from this entity yet. These are the best-connected entities of the same type, so the page still ends somewhere. Descriptions by STEPBible TIPNR.
Where they appear
What happened here
Atlas's reading of each chapter this place appears in, in canonical order. One line per chapter, and each leads to the whole of it.
- Deuteronomy 1Heshbon was where Sihon lived before his defeat.
- Deuteronomy 29Heshbon was named as Sihon’s kingdom when he came out against Israel.
- Joshua 12Heshbon was where Sihon lived and from where he ruled.
- Song of Songs 7Heshbon lends its pools to the beloved’s eyes.
- Isaiah 15Heshbon cried out, its voice carrying as far as Jahaz.
- Isaiah 16Heshbon’s fields wither, and tears are poured over its silent harvest.
- Jeremiah 48Heshbon devises evil against Moab, later becomes a source of cries and flame, and shelters no easy escape.
Sources