AZEKAH ə ze’ kə (עֲזֵקָ֖ה, LXX ̓Αζκα, hoed ground?). A Palestinian town which existed from before 1300 b.c. through Byzantine times.

Azekah was a fortified city S of the Valley of Aijalon, identified as Tell ez Zakariyeh, a triangular mound about 1,000 ft. by 500 ft., which rises about 350 ft. above the Valley of Elah, modern Wadi es Sunṭ. It was located three m. NW of Socoh, about nine m. N of Beit Jibrin (Eleutheropolis) and fifteen m. NW of Hebron. On a plateau at the top of the tell there remains a wall and towers of ancient fortifications. The Byzantine city of Azekah may be Khirbet el ’Alami just E of the tell. the site was partially excavated in 1898-1899 by Frederick J. Bliss and R. A. S. Macalister for the Palestine Exploration Fund.

When Joshua defeated the Amorites near Gibeon he chased the remnants of the coalition to Azekah (Josh 10:10, 11). It lay in the Shephelah (15:35). It was a point on the battle line of the Philistine-Heb. campaign in which David slew Goliath (1 Sam 17:1).

Following the revolt of the northern kingdom, Rehoboam fortified the city with a large walled stockade. Possibly Rehoboam was actuated by the invasion of Shishak, c. 918 b.c. (2 Chron 11:9). Prob. these fortifications are those seen in modern times.

Azekah was one of the last towns to fall to Nebuchadnezzar before he attacked Jerusalem c. 588 b.c. (Jer 34:7). In Lachish letter # 4, Hoshaiah, who commanded a garrison N of Lachish, informed his superior, Yoash, at Lachish that he could no longer see the signals (fire or smoke) from Azekah N of his post. This indicated that Azekah had already fallen. (Cf. ANET, 322, D. Winton Thomas, Documents from Old Testament Times, 216f.; G. Ernest Wright, Biblical Archaeology, 179).

After the Exile Azekah was reoccupied (Neh 11:30).

Possibly the “covering” of Isaiah 22:8 refers to the fortress of Azekah (cf. H. Tadmor, JCS, XII [1958], 22-40, 77-100).

Bibliography Palestine Exploration Fund (Quarterly Statement) (1899), 10-36; G. E. Wright, Biblical Archaeology (1956), 149, 179.