Janoah, Janah

JANOAH, JANAH (Heb. יָנוֹחַ).

(1) City on the northern border of Ephraim. It is mentioned in the Bible after Taanath-Shiloh near Shechem and before Ataroth and Naarah in the Jordan Valley (Josh. 16:6–7). According to Eusebius it was situated 12 miles east of Neapolis (Eusebius, Onom. 108:20–21). It is identified with Khirbat al-Yānūn, near the village of the same name, 7½ mi. (12 km.) southeast of Shechem.

(2) City in Galilee mentioned in the Bible together with Ijon, Abel-Beth-Maacah and Kedesh among the cities conquered by the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser III in 733/2 B.C.E. (II Kings 15:29). Its location and identification are disputed: Vincent and Albright have proposed Tell al-Naʿam in the Huleh Valley and Kaplan has suggested Khirbat Nīḥā southwest of Kefar Giladi; others identify Janoah with the village of Yānūḥ 6 mi. (10 km.) east of Tyre; Klein and Aharoni prefer Yanoah in Upper Galilee 2 mi. (3 km.) south of Maona-Tarshīḥā, on the supposition that part of the conquering Assyrian army advanced directly to Acre.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Wallis, in: ZDPV, 77 (1961), 38ff.; Albright, in: AASOR, 6 (1926), 18ff.; Vincent, in: RB, 35 (1926), 470; Abel, Geog, 2 (1938), 354; EJ; Y. Aharoni, Hitnaḥalut Shivtei Yisrael ba-Galil ha-Elyon (1957), 97–98, 129–32; Kaplan, in: BIES, 30 (1966), 53–55.