(strength), the name of several places in Palestine.

+ A royal city of the Canaanites, the king of which was killed by Joshua, (Joshua 12:18) probably the same as Aphekah in (Joshua 15:53)

+ A city, apparently in the extreme north of Asher, (Joshua 19:30) from which the Canaanites were not ejected, (Judges 1:31) though here it is Aphik #S###. This is probably the same place as APHEK, (Joshua 13:4) on the extreme north "border of the Amorites,"; identified with the Aphaca of classical times, the modern Afka .

+ A place at which the Philistines encamped while the Israelites pitched in Eben-ezer, before the fatal battle in which the sons of Eli were killed and the ark was taken. (1 Samuel 4:1) This would be somewhere to the northwest of and at no great distance from Jerusalem.

+ The scene of another encampment of the Philistines, before an encounter not less disastrous than that just named,--the defeat and death of Saul. (1 Samuel 29:1) It is possible that it may be the same place as the preceding.

+ A city on the military road from Syria to Israel. (1 Kings 20:26) It is now found in Fik, at the head of the Wady Fik, six miles east of the Sea of Galilee.