Nohah
Nohah is an ancient city mentioned in the Old Testament. It appears across 1 verse in Scripture.
Biblical History
Nohah appears as a place name in Judges 20:43, though its interpretation is debated among translators and scholars. In the context of the devastating civil war against the tribe of Benjamin, the other Israelite tribes pursued the fleeing Benjamites from their stronghold at Gibeah. The Hebrew text of Judges 20:43 states that they "surrounded the Benjamites, chased them, and trod them down from Nohah as far as opposite Gibeah toward the sunrise." Some translations render Nohah as a proper place name designating a town near Gibeah, while others translate it as a common noun meaning "resting place" or "rest," yielding "they trod them down at their resting place." If Nohah is indeed a city, it was located in Benjamite territory near Gibeah and served as a landmark along the route of the Benjamite retreat. The passage describes one of the most tragic episodes in Judges, when Israel nearly annihilated one of its own tribes in response to the atrocity committed at Gibeah.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
Nohah's identification remains uncertain, largely because scholars disagree on whether the Hebrew text of Judges 20:43 refers to a proper place name or a common noun. If it designates a settlement, it would have been located in the central hill country of Benjamin, in the vicinity of Gibeah (Tell el-Ful) and Rimmon (modern Rammun), both north of Jerusalem. No specific archaeological site has been confidently identified with Nohah. The broader region of Benjamin has been extensively surveyed, revealing numerous small Iron Age settlements consistent with the biblical description of Benjamite territory. The ambiguity of this place name illustrates the challenges of biblical topographical identification when textual evidence is limited to a single, textually difficult passage.
Verse Appearances (1)
Judg
Sources: ISBE Encyclopedia · OpenBible Geocoding (CC BY) · Pleiades Gazetteer View all →