Achzib

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Ach'zib. (Lying, False).

1. A city in the Shefelah , or lowlands of Judah, named with Keilah and Mareshah.  Joshua 15:44;  Micah 1:14. It is probably the same with Chezib and Chozeba , See Chezib; Chozeba .

2. A town belonging to Asher,  Joshua 19:29, from which the Canaanites were not expelled,  Judges 1:31, afterwards Ecdippa. It is now Es-Zib , on the seashore, 2h. 20m. north of Acre.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

ACHZIB . 1 . A town in Asher (  Joshua 19:29 ), from which the natives could not be dislodged (  Judges 1:31 ): it lay on the coast between Acre and Tyre. The early geographers called it Ekdippa  ; now ez-Zib . 2 . In the S. of the Shephelah (  Joshua 15:44 ), near Mareshah.   Micah 1:14 predicts that Achzib shall be to the kings of Judah achzab (‘deceptive’), a stream whose waters fail when most needed (cf.   Jeremiah 15:18 ).

J. Taylor.

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

1. In Judah, in the Shephelah or plain country of Judah on the western borderland toward the Philistines and the sea; the Chezib of  Genesis 38:5;  Joshua 15:44;  Micah 1:14, where the meaning of the name ("a lie") is alluded to.

2. In Asher, but, like Accho and Sidon, never wrested from the aboriginal Phoenicians ( Judges 1:31). Ten miles N. of Acre, on the Mediterranean; considered on the return from Babylon the northernmost boundary of the Holy Land. Now Es-Zib .

Morrish Bible Dictionary

1. City of Judah,  Joshua 15:44;  Micah 1:14 : probably the same that is called elsewhere CHEZIB and perhaps CHOZEBA. Identified with Ain Kezbeh, 31 42' N, 35 E.

2. City in the lot of Asher, but from which the inhabitants were not driven out.   Joshua 19:29;  Judges 1:31 . Identified with ez-Zib, a town on the Mediterranean coast, 33 3' N, 35 6' E.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

• A town in the Shephelah, or plain country of Judah ( Joshua 15:44 ); probably the same as Chezib of  Genesis 38:5 = Ain Kezbeh.
• A Phoenician city (the Gr. Ecdippa), always retained in their possession though assigned to the tribe of Asher (  Joshua 19:29;  Judges 1:31 ). It is identified with the modern es-Zib, on the Mediterranean, about 8 miles north of Accho.

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Achzib ( Ăk'Zib ), Deceit. 1.  Joshua 19:29. A city of the tribe of Asher.  Judges 1:31. Its present name is Zib. It is found near the sea coast, ten or twelve miles north of Ptolemais, and was visited by Buckingham in 1816. 2.  Joshua 15:44, and  Micah 1:14. A town of Judah.

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

a city on the coast of the Mediterranean, in the tribe of Asher, and one of the cities out of which that tribe did not expel the inhabitants,  Judges 1:31 . It was called Ecdippa by the Greeks, and is at present termed Zib. It is situated about ten miles north of Accho, or Ptolemais. Mr. Buckingham, who passed by this place, says that it is small, and situated on a hill near the sea; having a few palm trees rearing themselves above its dwellings.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

A city of Asher, from which, however, the Jews were unable to expel the Canaanites,  Judges 1:31 . It was afterwards called by the Greeks, Ecdippa, and is now named Zib; it lay on the seacoast, ten miles north of Acre.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Joshua 15:44 Micah 1:14  Joshua 19:29 Judges 1:31

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Heb. Akzib'. אֶכְזַּיב , Falsehood; Sept. Ἀχζείβ , but in Mic. Μάταιος and Vulg. maendacium), the name of two places, sometimes Latinized Aczib.

1. A town in the plain of Judah, adjoining the Highlands, mentioned between Keilah and Mareshah ( Joshua 15:44). It appears to have proved faithless to the national cause on the Assyrian invasion ( Micah 1:14); hence this passage contains a play on the name: "the houses of Achzib ( אֶכְזַּיב ) shall be a lie ( אִכְזִב )." It is probably the same as the CHEZIB (See Chezib) in Canaan where Shelah was born ( Genesis 38:5), and perhaps also the CHOZEBA (See Chozeba) where his descendants were finally located ( 1 Chronicles 4:22). In the time of Eusebius, Onomast. s.v. X Ασβεί ) it was a deserted village near Eleutheropolis toward Adullam. From the associated localities, also, it appears to have been situated not far north-east of the former.

2. A maritime city assigned to the tribe of Asher ( Joshua 19:29), but from which the Israelites were never able to expel the Phoenicians ( Judges 1:31). According to Eusebius (Onom. s.v. Ἀχζίφ ) it was 9 (according to the Jerusalem Itinerary 12) Roman miles north of Accho or Ptolemais. In the Talmud (Shebiith, 6, 1; Challah, 4, 8) it is called Kezib ( כְּזיב ) , and in later times Ecdippa ( Τὰ ῎Εκδιππα , Josephus, War, 1, 13, 4; Ptolmy 5:15; Pliny, 5:17), from the Aramaean pronunciation ( אֶכַדּיב ). Josephus also (Ant. 5, 1, 22) gives the name as Arce or Actippus ( Ἀρκὴ . . . . Ἡ Καὶ Ἀκτιπούς ) .

In the vicinity (at the mouth of the Nahr Herdawil, comp. Wilson, Lands of the Bible, 2, 233) was the Casale Huberti of the Crusaders (Ritter, Erdk. 16, 782). It was first identified by Maundrell (Journey, March 21) in the modern es-Zib (comp. Vit. Salad. p. 98), on the Mediterranean coast, about ten miles north of Acre (Robinson's Researches, 3, Append. p. 133; new ed. 3, 628). It stands on an ascent close by the sea-side, overhanging the ancient Roman road, and is a small place with a few palm-trees rising above the dwellings (Pococke, East, 2, 115; Richter, Wallf. p. 70; Irby and Mangles, p. 196; Buckingham, Palest. 1, 99; Legh, in Machmichael's Journey, p. 250; De Saulcy's Narrative, 1, 66; comp. Lightfoot, Opp. 2, 219; Fuller, Miscel. p. 4, 15; Cellarii Notit. 2, 481; Reland, Paloest. p. 544; Gesenius, Thes. Heb p. 674). It has evident traces of antiquity, but could never have been a large city (Thomson's Land and Book, 1, 471).

of Judah ( Joshua 15:44) is regarded by Tristram as the present Ain Kezbeh, near Beit-Nettif (Bible Places, p. 43), not meaning, as proposed by Keil (Comnment. ad loc.), the "place of springs called Kussabeh with ruins in the neighborhood" (Robinson, Bibl. Res. ii, 48), which may, perhaps, be included in the group of towns in which Achzib is mentioned (Nezib, Keilah, Mareshah, etc.), although very much south of them; but the spot marked on the Ordnance Map as Ain Kezbeh at the fork of the road five eighths of a mile south-east of Beit-Nettif, which, however, is too far north, being in a different group (Jarmuth, Socoh, etc.). (See Tribe Of Judah).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

ak´zib ( אכזיב , 'akhzı̄bh , "lying" or "disappointing"): The name of two towns in Palestine: (1) A town in western Judah in the lowlands, mentioned in connection with Mareshah and Keilah as one of the cities allotted to Judah ( Joshua 15:44 ), and in Mic ( Joshua 1:14 ), where it suggests play upon its meaning, "deceptive" or "failing," possibly the place having received its name from a winter spring or brook, which failed in summer. It is also called Chezib (כּזיב , kezı̄bh ( Genesis 38:5 )), where Judah was at the time of the birth of his son Shelah. In  1 Chronicles 4:22 it is called Cozeba, the King James Version "Chozeba" ( כּזבא , kōzēbhā' ), clearly seen to be the same as Achzib, from the places with which it is grouped. (2) It has been identified with the modern ‛Ayin - Kezbeh in the valley of Elah, and north of Adullam.

(3) Mod Zib Septuagint variously:   Joshua 19:29 , Codex Vaticanus, Ἐχοζόβ , Echozób , Codex Alexandrinus, Ἀχζείφ , Achzeı́ph  ;  Judges 1:31 , Codex Vaticanus, Ἀσχαζει , Aschendeı́ , Greek Ecdippa  : A small town some miles north of Acre on the coast. It is mentioned in  Joshua 19:29 as falling within the possessions of the tribe of Asher, but they never occupied it, as they did not the neighboring Acre (Acco). The Phoenician inhabitants of the coast were too strongly entrenched to be driven out by a people who had no fleet. The cities on the coast doubtless aided one another, and Sidon had become rich and powerful before this and could succor such a small town in case of attack. Achzib was a coast town, nine miles north of Acco, now known as Ez-Zib. It appears in the Assyrian inscriptions as Aksibi and Sennacherib enumerates it among the Phoenician towns that he took at the same times as Acco (702 bc). It was never important and is now an insignificant village among the sand dunes of the coast. It was the bordertown of Galilee on the west, what lay beyond being unholy ground.

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Ach´zib. There were two places of this name, not usually distinguished.

Achzib, 1

Achzib, in the tribe of Asher nominally, but almost always in the possession of the Phoenicians; being, indeed, one of the places from which the Israelites were unable to expel the former inhabitants ( Judges 1:31). In the Talmud it is called Chezib. The Greeks called it Ecdippa; and it still survives under the name of Zib. It is upon the Mediterranean coast, about ten miles north of Acre. It stands on an ascent close by the sea-side, and is described as a small place, with a few palm-trees rising above the dwellings.

Achzib, 2

Achzib, in the tribe of Judah ( Joshua 15:44;  Micah 1:14), of which there is no historical mention, but, from its place in the catalogue, it appears to have been in the middle part of the western border-land of the tribe, towards the Philistines. This is very possibly the Chezib of  Genesis 38:5.