Bible Locations

Joshua 15:8 describes Judah's northern border running "up the Valley of Ben Hinnom along the southern slope of the Jebusite city (that is, Jerusalem)." So the boundary passed through the Hinnom Valley, just south of Jerusalem, placing the city on the border between Judah and Benjamin. The Jebusites were one of the Canaanite peoples listed in Genesis 10. Joshua 15:63 says Judah couldn't drive them out of Jerusalem, "to this day the Jebusites live there with the people of Judah." David finally captured the city. Later, David bought the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, where the temple would be built. The Jebusite city stood on the southeastern ridge, now called the City of David, above the Gihon Spring. Excavations there found massive stone towers guarding the spring from the Middle Bronze Age, centuries before David, showing how strong the city's defenses were.