THIS MIGHT SURPRISE YOU
The answer
In the border list of Judah's land. Joshua 15:8 traces the edge of the tribe's territory, and the boundary "goes up by the valley of the son of Hinnom at the southern slope of the Jebusites (that is, Jerusalem)." Here the valley is simply a landmark on that line.
Why it’s interesting
The ravine runs along the southwest side of Jerusalem. Later books remember it for something much darker than a border: kings who made their sons "pass through fire" there, the Bible's phrase for sacrificing children in fire (2 Chronicles 28:3; 2 Chronicles 33:6).
Scholarly consensus
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