Moladah

Moladah (meaning birth or generation) was a town in the southern district of Judah that was subsequently allocated to the tribe of Simeon within Judah's territory (Josh. 15:26; 19:2). It is listed among the southernmost cities near Beersheba in the Negev region. After the Babylonian exile, Moladah was resettled by returning Jews from the tribe of Judah (Neh. 11:26), confirming its continued importance as a settled community in the post-exilic south. The site is tentatively identified with the modern village of Khirbet el-Waten (or el-Milh), situated approximately ten miles east of Beersheba. As a Simeonite city within Judah's allotment, Moladah illustrates the pattern by which the small tribe of Simeon received scattered towns within the already-settled inheritance of Judah (Josh. 19:1).