Yeshebi

Yeshebi is an obscure name appearing in Joshua 17:7, where the KJV renders the Hebrew as "inhabitants." The passage describes the southern boundary of the territory allotted to the tribe of Manasseh, running "from Asher to Michmethah" with a reference to a point translated variously as "the inhabitants of En-tappuah" or as the place-name Yeshebi itself. Many scholars consider Yeshebi to be a proper place name—possibly identical with the village of Yassuf, located approximately eight miles south of Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim—rather than a common noun meaning inhabitants.

The significance of Yeshebi lies primarily in its role as a boundary marker in the tribal allotments of Canaan, the precise geography of which Joshua 17 traces in detail as part of the larger division of the Promised Land among the twelve tribes. Exact identifications of such minor boundary points remain uncertain due to the fragmentary nature of ancient topographical records and the changes in place names over millennia. The allotments themselves reflect Israel's understanding that Canaan was God's gift, distributed by lot under divine guidance (Joshua 14:1–2), with each tribe's portion representing both a covenant inheritance and a responsibility to drive out its remaining inhabitants.