Judges 1:17

Zephath. — This name is only mentioned elsewhere in 2 Chronicles 14:10, as the scene of Asa’s battle with Zerah the Ethiopian.

Hormah — i.e., “a place devoted by ban.” The name Chormah is derived from Cherem (anathema or oan), and the verb rendered “utterly destroyed” means ‘executed the ban upon it.” By their conquest the Israelites fulfilled the vow which they had made in consequence of the “defeat inflicted on them by the king of Arad,” as a punishment for their disobedient Attempt to force their way into Palestine (see Numbers 14:45; Numbers 21:1). The town belonged to Simeon (Joshua 19:4; 1 Chronicles 4:28), and was close to the lands of the Kenites (1 Samuel 30:29).