ZANOAH

(Za·noʹah) [possibly, stench].

1. A Judean city in the Shephelah. (Josh 15:20, 33, 34, 36) It was among the cities reinhabited after the Babylonian exile. (Neh. 11:25, 30) The residents of this Zanoah may have been the ones that did repair work on Jerusalem’s southern wall and its Valley Gate. (Neh. 3:13) This Zanoah is usually identified with Khirbet Zanuʽ, about three miles (c. 5 kilometers) S-SE of Beth-shemesh.

2. A city in the mountainous region of Judah. (Josh. 15:20, 48, 56, 57) This is apparently the Zanoah referred to at 1 Chronicles 4:18 as being ‘fathered’ by Jekuthiel. (See JEKUTHIEL.) Most geographers currently favor locating this Zanoah at Khirbet Beit Amra, a little over six miles (c. 10 kilometers) S-SW of Hebron.