MAKKEDAH mək ē’ də (מַּקֵּדָ֖ה , Μακηδά; place of herdsmen). A Canaanite royal city taken by Joshua in his battle with the southern confederacy of five kings (Josh 10:10-29). These kings had been defeated at Gibeon and fled first eastward toward Beth-horon and then southward toward Azekah and Makkedah. The kings sought refuge, under pressure of Joshua’s attack and God’s rain of “stones,” in a cave near Makkedah. There Joshua killed them in the presence of his men. Then Joshua took the city of Makkedah nearby, killing the king (10:28). The location is uncertain. It was in the Shephelah (15:41). Though mentioned with Azekah in the story, it need not have been near it for the two cities are recorded in different lists in Joshua 15 (Azekah in vv. 33-36; Makkedah in vv. 37-41). The two sites most likely are Khirbet el-Kheishum, situated between Azekah and Beth-shemesh, and Khirbet Beit Maqdum seven m. SE of Beit Guvrin. Joshua’s route in the conquest of the individual cities (Makkedah, Libnah, Lachish, Eglon, Hebron, Debir; Josh 10:28-39) favors the former site.

Bibliography E. G. Kraeling, Bible Atlas (1956), 138; D. Baly, Geographical Companion to the Bible (1963), 175.