(Heb. Yat'hats,
éִäִåֹ
, trodden down, Isa_15:4; Jer_48:34; Sept.
É᾿áóóÜ
; also with
ä
local and in pause,
é äְöָä
, Yach'tsah,Num_21:23, Sept.
åἰò É᾿áóóÜ
; Deu_2:32, Sept.
åἰò É᾿áóÜ
; and this even with a prefix,
áְּé äְöָä
, Jdg_11:20, Sept.
åἰò É᾿áóóÜ
; but likewise with
ä
paragogic,
éִäְöָä
, Yah'tsach, Sept.
É᾿áóóÜ
,Jos_13:18; A. Vers. “Jahaza;”
É᾿áóÜ
, Jer_48:21, “Jahazah;”
É᾿áóóÜ
, Jos_21:36, “Jahazah;”
῾ÑåöÜò
v.r.
É᾿áóóÜ
, 2 Chronicles 6:78, “Jahzah”), a town beyond the Jordan, where Sihon was defeated, in the borders of Moab and the region of the Ammonites (Num_21:23; Deu_2:32; Jdg_11:20); situated in the tribe of Reuben (Jos_13:18), and assigned to the Merarite Levites (Jos_21:36; 1Ch_6:78). In Isa_15:4; Jer_48:21, it appears as one of the Moabitish places that suffered from the transit of the Babylonian conquerors through the “plain country' (i.e. the Mishor. the mod. Belka). The whole country east of the Dead Sea had originally been given to the Moabites and Ammonites (Gen_19:36-38; Deu_2:19-22); but the warlike Amorites from the west of the Jordan conquered them, and expelled them from the region north of the river Amon. From the Amorites the Israelites took this country, but subsequently the Ammonites claimed it as theirs (Jdg_11:13), and on the decline of Jewish power the Moabites and Ammonites again took possession of it. Hitzig (Zu Jesa. ad loc.) regards Jahaz and Jahzah as different places (so Keil on Joshua ad loc., urging that they are distinguished in the passages of Jeremiah); but this is unnecessary (so Winer, Real. s.v. Jahaz), and at variance with the philology. It appears to have been situated on the- edge of the desert (see Raumer, Zug dc. Isr. — p. 53; Hengstenberg, Bileame, p. 239). See Exodus. ‘From the terms of the narrative in Numbers 21 and Deuteronomy 2 we should expect that Jahaz was in the extreme south part of the territory of Sihon, but yet north of the River Arnon (see Deu_2:24; Deu_2:36; and the words in Deu_2:31, “begin to possess”), and in ‘exactly this position a site named Jazaze is mentioned by Schwarz (Palest. p. 227, “a village to the south-west of Dhiban”); but this lacks confirmation, especially as Eusebius and Jerome (Ozomnasf s.
É᾿åóóÜ
, Jassa) place it between Medeba (
Ìçäáìώí
) and Dibon (
Äéâïýò
,'Deblathaim); and the latter states that “Jahaz lies opposite the Dead Sea, at the boundary of the region of Moab.” These requirements are met by supposing Jahaz to have been situated in the open tract at the head of wady Waleh, between Arnun on the east, and Jebel Humeh on the west.