Cozeba
Cozeba is an ancient city mentioned in the Old Testament, located in the region of Judea in modern-day Israel. Known today as Tel el Beida. It appears across 1 verse in Scripture.
Biblical History
Cozeba is a little-known biblical city mentioned once in 1 Chronicles 4:22, within the genealogical record of the tribe of Judah. The text records the men of Cozeba among the descendants of Shelah son of Judah, alongside the men of Jokim and the men of Joash and Saraph, who held dominion in Moab. The passage notes that these records are ancient, acknowledging uncertainty about the exact historical circumstances they describe. Cozeba is generally identified with Achzib of Judah (Joshua 15:44), a city in the Shephelah listed among the lowland cities of the tribe. The name Achzib itself may carry a meaning related to deception or disappointment, appearing in Micah 1:14 in a wordplay suggesting the city would prove deceptive to the kings of Israel. The connection between Cozeba and the clan descendants of Shelah reflects the ancient Israelite tradition of associating tribal genealogies with territorial settlements and occupational groups.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
Cozeba is most commonly identified with Tel el-Beida, located in the Shephelah of Judah southwest of Jerusalem, or alternatively equated with nearby sites by some scholars. The site corresponds to biblical Achzib of Judah, a distinct location from Achzib in Asher. Surface surveys and limited excavations in the region have revealed Iron Age occupation consistent with the period of the tribal settlement narratives. The area has yielded pottery assemblages characteristic of Judean Iron Age II occupation. The broader Shephelah region has been intensively surveyed, revealing a dense network of ancient settlements that align with the tribal cities listed in Joshua 15.
Verse Appearances (1)
1Chr
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- OpenBible.info (n.d.) Bible Geocoding. Available at: https://www.openbible.info/geo/. [CC BY 4.0]
- Bagnall, R. et al. (eds.) (n.d.) Pleiades: A Gazetteer of Past Places. Available at: https://pleiades.stoa.org. [CC BY 3.0]
- Wikidata contributors (n.d.) Wikidata. Available at: https://www.wikidata.org. [CC0]
- Lawrence, D. et al. (2025) Villages to Empires: a settlement dataset for the Southern Levant. doi:10.5281/zenodo.15111732. [CC BY 4.0]
- Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]