Hebrew word · H6947

קָדֵשׁ בַּרְנֵעַ

barnea'

Kadesh-barnea

Place name; Qadesh is related to the root for “holy” or “set apart.” Usually identified with the oasis region of ‘Ain el-Qudeirat/‘Ain Qadeis in the northeastern Sinai.

Appears 20 times in 10 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

Kadesh-barnea = "holy"

a city in the extreme south of Judah

same as 'Kedesh' and 'Kadesh'

Another name of qa.desh (קָדֵשׁ "Kadesh" H6946G)

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 Joshua 14:6

Range of meaning

Place name; Qadesh is related to the root for “holy” or “set apart.” Usually identified with the oasis region of ‘Ain el-Qudeirat/‘Ain Qadeis in the northeastern Sinai.

Against the English

English readers meet a bare place name. To Israel it was shorthand for the national failure of nerve and the 40-year sentence that followed.

Used elsewhere in the period

Num 13:26; 32:8; Deut 1:2, 19, 46; 2:14; 9:23; Josh 10:41; 15:3. The site of Israel's long stay before the refusal to enter Canaan.

From the study of Joshua 10:41

Range of meaning

An oasis in the northeastern Sinai, usually identified with the springs of Ein el-Qudeirat and Ein Qadeis. 'Kadesh' is related to the root for 'holy' (q-d-sh) and may mean 'sacred place'. 'Barnea' is of uncertain meaning.

Against the English

English versions transliterate it, sometimes with a hyphen and sometimes without. No difference in meaning.

Used elsewhere in the period

Israel's long camp in the wilderness (Num 13:26; 20:1; Deut 1:19, 46). It is where the spies' report led that generation to refuse to enter the land (Num 14; 32:8; Deut 1:19–46). It marks the southern border of the land (Num 34:4; Josh 15:3). Joshua 14:6–7 has Caleb recall Kadesh-barnea in Joshua's presence. Tell el-Qudeirat has a series of Iron Age fortresses.

Where it appears

Numbers · 4

  1. Numbers 32:8 מִקָּדֵ֥שׁ בַּרְנֵ֖עַ from Kadesh, Barnea

    This is what your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to inspect the land.

  2. Numbers 34:4 לְקָדֵ֣שׁ בַּרְנֵ֑עַ of Kadesh, Barnea

    cross south of the Ascent of Akrabbim, continue to Zin, and go south of Kadesh-barnea. Then it will go on to Hazar-addar and proceed to Azmon,

Deuteronomy · 8

  1. Deuteronomy 1:2 קָדֵ֥שׁ בַּרְנֵֽעַ׃ Kadesh, Barnea

    It is an eleven-day journey from Horeb to Kadesh-barnea by way of Mount Seir.

  2. Deuteronomy 1:19 קָדֵ֥שׁ בַּרְנֵֽעַ׃ Kadesh, Barnea

    And just as the LORD our God had commanded us, we set out from Horeb and went toward the hill country of the Amorites, through all the vast and terrifying wilderness you have seen. When we reached Kadesh-barnea,

  3. Deuteronomy 2:14 מִקָּדֵ֣שׁ בַּרְנֵ֗עַ from Kadesh, Barnea

    The time we spent traveling from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the Brook of Zered was thirty-eight years, until that entire generation of fighting men had perished from the camp, as the LORD had sworn to them.

    Here: The starting point is Kadesh, the oasis on the southern edge of Canaan where the people refused to go up into the land (Numbers 13–14; Deuteronomy 1:19–46). The place name sounds like the Hebrew word for "holy."

  4. Deuteronomy 9:23 מִקָּדֵ֤שׁ בַּרְנֵ֙עַ֙ from Kadesh, Barnea

    And when the LORD sent you out from Kadesh-barnea, He said, “Go up and possess the land that I have given you.” But you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God. You neither believed Him nor obeyed Him.

Joshua · 8

  1. Joshua 10:41 מִקָּדֵ֥שׁ בַּרְנֵ֖עַ from Kadesh, Barnea

    Joshua conquered the area from Kadesh-barnea to Gaza, and the whole region of Goshen as far as Gibeon.

    Here: 'From Kadesh.' The prefix 'from' marks the starting point of the range: the far southern oasis on the desert edge, which is also the traditional southern border of the promised land.

  2. Joshua 14:6 בְּקָדֵ֥שׁ בַּרְנֵֽעַ׃ at Kadesh, Barnea

    Then the sons of Judah approached Joshua at Gilgal, and Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know what the LORD said to Moses the man of God at Kadesh-barnea about you and me.

    Here: The oasis in the northern Sinai/Negev wilderness where the spies were sent out and where Israel refused to enter the land (Num 13–14).

  3. Joshua 14:7 מִקָּדֵ֥שׁ בַּרְנֵ֖עַ from Kadesh, Barnea

    I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought back to him an honest report.

  4. Joshua 15:3 לְקָדֵ֣שׁ בַּרְנֵ֑עַ of Kadesh, Barnea

    proceeded south of the Ascent of Akrabbim, continued on to Zin, went over to the south of Kadesh-barnea, ran past Hezron up to Addar, and curved toward Karka.

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