Juttah

Juttah (meaning extended or turning away) was a Levitical city in the hill-country of Judah, assigned to the priests among the descendants of Aaron (Josh. 15:55; 21:16). It was situated in the mountainous region south of Hebron, in the same district as Maon, Carmel, and Ziph. Some scholars have proposed identifying Juttah with the city of Judah mentioned in Luke 1:39 as the destination of Mary's visit to Elizabeth after the Annunciation—the city where Zechariah and Elizabeth lived and where John the Baptist was born.

If the Lukan identification is correct, Juttah would hold significant importance as the birthplace of John the Baptist and the location of the Visitation (Luke 1:39–56), during which Mary uttered the Magnificat. The site is tentatively identified with modern Yatta, a large village about five miles south of Hebron, which has preserved a phonetic echo of the ancient name throughout the centuries. As a priestly city, it was part of the system of forty-eight Levitical towns distributed throughout the tribal territories to ensure priestly presence across the land.