LEBNA (Heb. Libhná; Gr. Lechna, Lochna). - A city of Palestine situated between Maceda and Lachish (Josh. 10:29-31). Taken by Joshua (Josh. 10:30, 39; 12:15), it was assigned to the Levites (Josh. 21:13; 1 Chron. 6:57). It made itself independent by revolting against Judah under Jehoram (2 Kings 8:22; 2 Chron. 21:10). It seems to have had a fortress which Sennacherib, in his struggle against Hezekiah, took on his return from Lachish (2 Kings 19:8; Isa. 37:8). It was the birthplace of the mother of Jehoahaz and of Zedekiah, kings of Judah (2 Kings 23:31; 24:18).

According to the Onom. (120, 25) it seems that in the Byzantine period the city was called Lobna. Its identification is disputed: some locate it at Tell es-Sāfijeh, called Alba specula by the Crusaders because of the idea of "whiteness" in the name L., and where excavations have shown remains ranging from 1700 to the Seleucid period; others prefer to locate L. at Tell Bornāt, 9 km further south of the previous site, where there are remains from the Bronze III or Iron I periods.

Bibliography4 works

BIBL.: G. Beyer, Libna, in Zeitschrift des deutschen Palästina Vereins, 54 (1931), pp. 150-59 (at Tell es-Sāfijeh); W. F. Albright, in Annual of american schools of oriental research, 2-3 (1932), pp. 13-17 and in Bulletin of american sch. of orient. research, 15 (1924), p. 9; 17 (1925), p. 8 (at Tell Bornāt); F.-M. Abel, Géographie de la Palestine, II, Paris 1938, pp. 269-70. Bellarmino Bagatti

@incollection{ec7_lebna_ebr_libhnah_gr_lekhna_lo, author = {Bagatti, Bellarmino}, title = {Lebna (Ebr. Libhnáh; Gr. ΛΕΧΝΆ, λοχνά)}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VII}, pages = {1007--1008}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1951}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/lebna-ebr-libhnah-gr-lekhna-lokhna} }

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