Hebrew word · H7191

קִשְׁיוֹן

kishyon

Kishion

A place name found only here and in Joshua 19:20. Its meaning is uncertain. It may come from the root q-sh-h, 'to be hard', but that is guesswork.

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

Kishion = "hard"

a town on the boundary of Issachar allotted to the Gershonite Levites

Also named: qe.desh (קֶ֫דֶשׁ "Kedesh" H6943I)

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 21:28

Range of meaning

A place name found only here and in Joshua 19:20. Its meaning is uncertain. It may come from the root q-sh-h, 'to be hard', but that is guesswork.

Against the English

BSB, WEB, ESV, NASB and NIV say 'Kishion'. KJV and YLT say 'Kishon', which can lead readers to think of the River Kishon (Judg 4–5; 1 Kgs 18:40). That is a different name in Hebrew (qishon) and a different place.

How it drifted

The KJV spelling probably follows Greek and Latin spellings that dropped the second syllable, which made the town look like the river.

Used elsewhere in the period

1 Chronicles 6:72 has 'Kedesh' in this slot. That may be a copying slip or a sign that the list was revised. The site is unknown. Proposals include Tel Qishyon (Tell el-Ajjul or Khirbet Qasyun) south-east of Mount Tabor and Tel Rekhesh. None is certain.

Where it appears

Joshua · 2

  1. Joshua 19:20 וְקִשְׁי֖וֹן and Kishion

    Rabbith, Kishion, Ebez,

  2. Joshua 21:28 קִשְׁי֖וֹן Kishion

    From the tribe of Issachar they were given Kishion, Daberath,

    Here: A town in Issachar, also listed in Issachar's allotment at Joshua 19:20. Nobody is sure where it was. It is not the River Kishon, despite the KJV spelling.

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