Juttah

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

("stretched out.) A city in the hill country of Judah ( Joshua 15:55), allotted to the priests ( Joshua 21:16). Omitted by copyist's error in  1 Chronicles 6:57-59; now Yutta, near Main (Maon) and Kurmul (Carmel). Herein appears the value of the repetitions of names in parallel passages; the one corrects errors which creep into the other. As Joshua herein supplies the omission in Chronicles, so Chronicles gives Ashan the right reading for Ain in Joshua, as Septuagint prove. In the Egyptian monuments Juttah appears as Jah or Jahn, a fort of the Anakim near Arba or Hebron, In  Luke 1:39 "a city of Juda" is a doubtful translation; for Judah or Judaea, the region, has usually the article in Greek (see  Luke 1:5-65); and "Juda" had long been superseded by "Judaea." Probably "the city Juttah" or "Juda" is meant, the residence of Zacharias and Elisabeth, and the birthplace of John Baptist. However "Juda" is used of the region of Judah,  Matthew 2:6.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Jut'tah. (Stretched Out). A city in the mountain region of Judah, in the neighborhood of Maon and Carmel.  Joshua 15:55 The place is now known as Yutta .

Morrish Bible Dictionary

City in the highlands of Judah, given to the priests.  Joshua 15:55;  Joshua 21:16 . Identified with Yutta , 31 27' N, 35 5' E .

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Joshua 15:55 21:16 Luke 1:39Mary

Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary

A city of Judah. ( Joshua 15:55) The name means perhaps, to spread; from Natah.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Joshua 15:55 Joshua 21:16

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Hebrew Yutah', יוּטָה ,  Joshua 15:55,Vulg. Jota; or Yuttah ' , יֻטָּה , perhaps Inclined, otherwise i.q. Jotbah,  Joshua 21:16, Vulg. Jeta; Sept. Ι᾿Εττά v.r. Ι᾿Τάν and Τανύ ), a Levitical city in the mountains of Judah, named in connection with Ziph, Jezreel, etc., in the neighborhood of Maon and Carmel ( Joshua 15:55). It was allotted to the priests (21:16), but in the catalogue of  1 Chronicles 6:57-59, the name has escaped. Eusebius ( Onomast. s.v.) calls it a large village by the name of Jettan ( Ι᾿Εττάν ) , and places it eighteen miles south of Eleutheropolis, in the district of Daromas (the south). It is doubtless the village discovered by Dr. Robinson ( Researches, 2 , 628), four miles south of Hebron, and still called Yutta, having the appearance of a large Mohammedan town, on a low eminence, with trees around and where the guides spoke of the existence of old foundations and former walls. Schwarz calls it Zata in his Palest. p. 106, and Seetzen Jitta on his map.

"The selection of Juttah as a city of the priests suggests the idea of its having already been a place of importance, which is seemingly confirmed by early and numerous allusions to it in the inscriptions on the Egyptian monuments. There it appears to be described under the names Tah, Tahn, and Tahn-nu, as a fortress of the Anakim near Arba or Hebron; and it is not a little remarkable that another Egyptian document, the Septuagint, expresses the word in almost the selfsame manner, Ι᾿Τάν and Τανύ , ( Jour. Sac. Lit. April and July, 1852, p. 73, 316, 317)" (Fairbairn, s.v.).

The "city of Juda" ( Luke 1:39), whither Mary went to visit Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist ( Εἰς Πόλιν Ι᾿Ούδα ), and where Zecharias therefore appears to have resided, has usually been supposed to mean Hebron; but, if the reading be correct, the proper rendering would be "to the city Judah," i.e. its capital, or Jerusalem (see Bornemann, Schol. in Luc. p. 12), notwithstanding the absence of the article (Winer's Grammat. V.T. p. 136). But, as this was not intended (see Rob. Valesius, Epist. ad Casaubon. 1613, p. 669), Reland (Palest. p. 870) has suggested a conjectural reading of "Juttah" for "Judah" ( Ι᾿Ουτά for Ιούδα ) in the above passage of Luke, which has met with favor among critics (see Harenberg, in the Nov. Miscell. Lips. 4, 595; Paulus, Kuinol, ad loc.), although no various reading exists to justify it.