Joshua 1:4

1:4 Your territory will extend from the wilderness in the south to Lebanon in the north. It will extend all the way to the great River Euphrates in the east (including all of Syria) ¹  and all the way to the Mediterranean Sea ²  in the west. ³ 

Joshua 15:12

15:12 The western border was the Mediterranean Sea. ⁴  These were the borders of the tribe of Judah and its clans. ⁵ 

Joshua 23:4

23:4 See, I have parceled out to your tribes these remaining nations, ⁶  from the Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea ⁷  in the west, including all the nations I defeated. ⁸ 

Numbers 34:6

The Western Border of the Land

34:6 “‘And for a western border ⁹  you will have the Great Sea. ¹⁰  This will be your western border.

¹ tn Heb “all the land of the Hittites.” The expression “the land of the Hittites” does not refer to Anatolia (modern Turkey), where the ancient Hittite kingdom of the second millennium b.c. was located, but rather to Syria, the “Hatti land” mentioned in inscriptions of the first millennium b.c. (see HALOT 1:363). The phrase is omitted in the LXX and may be a scribal addition.

² tn Heb “the Great Sea,” the typical designation for the Mediterranean Sea.

³ tn Heb “From the wilderness and this Lebanon even to the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, even to the great sea [at] the place where the sun sets, your territory will be.”

⁴ tn Heb “the Great Sea,” the typical designation for the Mediterranean Sea.

⁵ tn Heb “this was the border of the sons of Judah round about, by their clans.”

⁶ tn Heb “I have assigned by lots to you these remaining nations as an inheritance for your tribes.”

⁷ tn Heb “the Great Sea,” the typical designation for the Mediterranean Sea.

⁸ tn Heb “from the Jordan and all the nations which I cut off and the Great Sea [at] the place where the sun sets.” The relationship of the second half of the verse, which mentions nations already conquered, to the first half, which speaks of “remaining nations,” is difficult to understand.

⁹ tn The word for west is simply “sea,” because the sea is west of Israel.

¹⁰ sn That is, the Mediterranean Sea (also in the following verse).