DEBIR:
- 1. A king of Eglon referred to in Josh. x. 3 et seq. The Septuagint reads Δαβὶν. Debir was one of the five kings who joined Adonizedek, King of Jerusalem, against the city of Gibeon. In the battle which ensued, according to the Book of Jashar, Joshua, who had come to the support of Gibeon, caused the sun and the moon to stop in their courses while he took revenge on his enemies. The outcome was a crushing defeat for Debir and the allied kings, who fled, but were caught and ignominiously put to death.J. Jr. I. Hu.
- 2. City in the south of Judah. According to Josh. xv. 15 and Judges i. 12, it was originally called "Kirjath-sepher" (
); according to Josh. xv. 49, "Kirjath-sannah" (
). In Josh. x. 39, xi. 21, xii. 13, it is said to have been conquered by Joshua, while in ib. xv. 15 et seq.; Judges i. 12 et seq., Othniel is named as its captor. It was the seat of a tribal chief, and therefore a place of some importance. It is mentioned among the Levitical cities in Josh. xxi. 15. Its situation is not certainly known. Probably it is identical with Al-Ḍahariyyah, a large village on the top of a hill southwest of Hebron. Some consider the "Debir" mentioned in Josh. xv. 7 to be another place; but no city of this name is elsewhere mentioned as being in the vicinity indicated in the passage, and the text seems to be corrupt.
E. G. H. F. Bu.
