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Debir

cityOld TestamentJudea11 verses
Today Khirbet RabudCountry IsraelCoordinates 31.432, 35.015

Debir is an ancient city mentioned in the Old Testament, located in the region of Judea in modern-day Israel. Known today as Khirbet Rabud. It appears across 11 verses in Scripture.

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Archaeological Data
Occupation Phases
Chalcolithic4500 BCE – 3800 BCE
Early Bronze Age I3800 BCE – 3050 BCE
Early Bronze Age II3050 BCE – 2850 BCE
Early Bronze Age III2850 BCE – 2500 BCE
Middle Bronze Age II-III1750 BCE – 1550 BCE
Late Bronze Age1550 BCE – 1150 BCE
Iron Age I1150 BCE – 980 BCE
Iron Age IIa980 BCE – 830 BCE
Iron Age IIb830 BCE – 720 BCE
Iron Age IIc720 BCE – 539 BCE
Iron Age III (Persian)539 BCE – 333 BCE
Hellenistic333 BCE – 63 BCE
Early Roman63 BCE – 70 CE
Late Roman70 CE – 324 CE
Byzantine324 CE – 638 CE
UnitoAssyrianGovernance, Villages to Empires Dataset (CC BY 4.0), doi:10.5281/zenodo.15111732

Biblical History

Debir of Judah was one of the most strategically significant cities captured during Joshua's Conquest. Originally a Canaanite royal city, its king among the five kings defeated at the battle of Gibeon (Joshua 10:3, 38–39), Debir was first conquered by Joshua, who killed its king and destroyed it utterly. Formerly known as Kiriath-sepher ("city of the book" or "city of the scribe"), the city was later reconquered by Othniel, son of Kenaz, who won it and the hand of Caleb's daughter Achsah as his bride (Joshua 15:15–19; Judges 1:11–15). This episode, with Achsah boldly requesting springs of water as part of her inheritance, is one of the Old Testament's striking portraits of a woman's claim to covenant blessing. Debir was assigned to the Levitical priests as a city of refuge (Joshua 21:15; 1 Chronicles 6:58), placing it within the network of sanctuaries supporting Israel's judicial and sacral life. The city appears in Nehemiah's era as well, with inhabitants returning from exile (Nehemiah 11:25).

Archaeological & Historical Notes

Debir of Judah is most widely identified with Khirbet Rabud, located approximately thirteen kilometers southwest of Hebron in the southern Judean highlands. Excavations at Khirbet Rabud, conducted by Moshe Kochavi in 1968–69, revealed substantial Late Bronze Age (Canaanite) occupation followed by Iron Age I and II strata, consistent with the biblical account of conquest and subsequent Israelite settlement. The site covers approximately seven hectares, making it among the larger Iron Age sites in the Judean hills. An earlier identification with Tell Beit Mirsim, extensively excavated by William Albright in the 1920s–30s, has largely been set aside in favor of Khirbet Rabud based on topographical and ceramic evidence.

Verse Appearances (11)

References

  1. Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
  2. OpenBible.info (n.d.) Bible Geocoding. Available at: https://www.openbible.info/geo/. [CC BY 4.0]
  3. Bagnall, R. et al. (eds.) (n.d.) Pleiades: A Gazetteer of Past Places. Available at: https://pleiades.stoa.org. [CC BY 3.0]
  4. Wikidata contributors (n.d.) Wikidata. Available at: https://www.wikidata.org. [CC0]
  5. Lawrence, D. et al. (2025) Villages to Empires: a settlement dataset for the Southern Levant. doi:10.5281/zenodo.15111732. [CC BY 4.0]
  6. Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]

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