NEGHEBH. — In the Hebrew language (from an ancient Semitic root ngb, “to be dry, arid”) it signifies a dry, arid region, and as a general directional term it denotes the south.
As a geographical term, in opposition to “mountain” (har), “lowland plain” (sēphēlah), and “depression” (‘ārābhāh), it designates a region that is sometimes flat, sometimes hilly, monotonous, traversed by wide riverbeds that are almost always dry, extending from Hebron to Kadesh-barnea, today ‘Ajin Qudejs (cf. Gen. 18:1; Num. 13:20). Subsequently, it came to mean the south of Palestine (Gen. 12:9; 13:1; Josh. 15:8; 18:5).
In the Greek version of the Septuagint it is rendered as Naxyēb or as ἐρμήος in recall of the first etymology (Vulgate terra arenas, Judg. 1:15), but more often as νότος (= south) or λύθ (= south-west).
In the distribution of the Promised Land, the Negeb fell by lot to the tribes of Judah and Simeon (Josh. 10:40; 12:8); but the boundaries, especially in the southern part, are not clearly defined. The principal cities of the Negeb are listed in Josh. 15:21-32, and among the chief ones are mentioned Kadesh-barnea (Gen. 20:1), Beersheba (Josh. 15:28), Sikkelag (ibid. 15:31), and Arad (Num. 21:1).
According to the clans it was distinguished as the Negeb of the Cherethites (1 Sam. 30:14), of Caleb (ibid.), of Judah (ibid. 27:10; 30:14), of the Jerahmeelites (ibid. 27:10), and of the Kenites (ibid.).