Hebrew word · H6228

עָשָׁן

'ashan

Ashan

As a common noun it means "smoke." As a place name it is a town in the Shephelah, the low hill country of Judah. Joshua 15:42 lists it with Judah, while Joshua 19:7 and 1 Chronicles 4:32 list it with Simeon. It may be the "Bor-ashan" (or "Cor-ashan") of 1 Samuel 30:30.

Appears 4 times in 4 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

§ Ashan = "smoke"

a city in the lowland of Judah later mentioned as belonging to Simeon

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of 1 Chronicles 6:59

Range of meaning

As a common noun it means "smoke." As a place name it is a town in the Shephelah, the low hill country of Judah. Joshua 15:42 lists it with Judah, while Joshua 19:7 and 1 Chronicles 4:32 list it with Simeon. It may be the "Bor-ashan" (or "Cor-ashan") of 1 Samuel 30:30. Its location has not been securely identified.

Against the English

English versions simply write it as "Ashan."

Used elsewhere in the period

In the same slot, Joshua 21:16 reads "Ain" (ʿayin, "spring"). Many commentators judge that Chronicles preserves the better name, Ashan, and that "Ain" in Joshua is a slip in copying, or else the other way round. Some Greek manuscripts of Joshua have a form that seems closer to Ashan. The details of the manuscripts vary and are uncertain.

Where it appears

Joshua · 2

  1. Joshua 15:42 וְעָשָֽׁן׃ and Ashan

    Libnah, Ether, Ashan,

  2. Joshua 19:7 וְעָשָׁ֑ן and Ashan

    Ain, Rimmon, Ether, and Ashan—four cities, along with their villages,

1 Chronicles · 2

  1. 1 Chronicles 4:32 וְעָשָׁ֑ן and Ashan

    And their villages were Etam, Ain, Rimmon, Tochen, and Ashan—five towns—

  2. 1 Chronicles 6:59 עָשָׁן֙ Ashan

    Ashan, Juttah, and Beth-shemesh, together with their pasturelands.

    Here: A town in the low hills of southern Judah. It is also counted among Simeon's towns (Joshua 15:42; 19:7; 1 Chronicles 4:32). Its exact site is uncertain. The name is the ordinary Hebrew word for "smoke."

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.