לְבוֹנָה (le.vo.nah)
le.vo.nah
Lebonah
N:N--LQuick Reference
- Language
- Biblical Hebrew
- Testament
- Old Testament
- Occurrences
- 1 verses
- Root
- —
- Part of speech
- N:N--L
Word Overview
The noun lebonah refers to a specific town in the territory of Ephraim, located roughly three miles west-northwest of Shiloh. In the Hebrew Bible, this place name appears only once, in Judges 21:19, where it is identified as the site of a festival celebrated by the tribe of Benjamin.
The meaning of the word itself points to "frankincense" or "white resin," likely describing the pale, aromatic substance. While the town shares this name with the valuable incense used in temple worship, the biblical text uses lebonah here strictly as a geographical marker. It serves to anchor the narrative of Israel’s civil war in a concrete location near the religious center of Shiloh.
Lexical sources note that identifying this town helps scholars fix the geography of the region during the period of the Judges. The name suggests a connection to the trade or production of incense, though the scripture does not elaborate on local industry. Instead, it highlights how place names often carried descriptive weight, linking physical locations to the natural resources or characteristics known in that area.
Based on public-domain lexicons (Strong's, Thayer, Gesenius, Brown-Driver-Briggs and others).
What This Word Means for Your Faith
The name Lebonah appears in Judges 21:19 as a geographical marker near Shiloh. It identifies a town where the tribe of Benjamin gathered for a festival. This single mention anchors a complex narrative about Israel’s civil war in a real place.
While the word itself means frankincense, here it points to soil and community rather than temple worship. It reminds us that God meets people in ordinary locations. The festival at Lebonah provided a moment of connection for a fractured tribe.
Even in times of conflict, these places held significance. They were not just dots on a map but centers of life and tradition. Understanding such details helps us see the human side of biblical history.
How it's translated
How this word is rendered word-by-word in the 1 verses where it appears, by frequency.
- to/ Lebonah1×
Forms in the text
The inflected forms of this word as they appear in Scripture, by frequency.
- לִ/לְבוֹנָֽה\׃1×
Key Verses
-
Judges 21:19
They said, “Behold, there is a feast of Yahweh from year to year in Shiloh, which is on the north of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.”
This verse uses Lebonah to pinpoint the southern boundary of the festival site near Shiloh, grounding the tribe's gathering in a specific location.