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TEKOA (2Ch_11:6 etc.); Tekoah, 2Sa_14:2; 2Sa_14:4; 2Sa_14:9 [AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ], 1Ma_9:33 [RV [Note: Revised Version.] ; AV [Note: Authorized Version.] Thecoe]).—A fortress city on the edge of the wilderness to which it gave its name (2Ch_20:20). From here came the ‘wise woman’ sent by Joab to plead for Absalom (2Sa_14:2; 2Sa_14:4; 2Sa_14:8); Rehoboam fortified it (2Ch_11:6), and apparently it continued to be a fortress (Jer_6:1); Amos ‘was among the herdmen of Tekoa’ (Amo_1:1). Tekoa is mentioned also in LXX [Note: Septuagint.] in Jos_15:59, and in the genealogies in 1Ch_4:5-8. The site is now Khurbet Teqû‘a, an extended but shapeless mass of ruins crowning the summit of a hill (2790 ft. above sea level), 5 miles S. of Bethlehem. It is on the extreme edge of the cultivated lands. Bethlehem, the Mt. of Olives, and Nebi Samwîl (Mizpah) are all visible from it.
E. W. G. Masterman.