Ceila (Hebrew Qē'lláh; spelled in the letters of El-Amarna)

CEILA (Hebrew Qe’illah; Ki-il-ti in the el-Amarna letters). — A fortified city in the lowland of Judah (Josh. 15:44; 1 Chron. 4:19), stoutly defended by
CEFALÙ - Facade of the Cathedral (1131-48).

David against the Philistines (1 Sam. 23, 1-8). After the Babylonian captivity the citizens of C., divided into two groups, collaborated in the rebuilding of Jerusalem (Neh. 3, 17).

The topographical indication of Eusebius (Onomasticon, 114, 15), “Kηλᾶ to the east of Eleutheropolis, eight miles on the road to Hebron,” corresponds precisely to Hírbet Qilah, 12 km east of Bejt Gibrin, where there are remains of a city wall, ruins of houses, and many rock-cut tombs.