Nephtoah

Nephtoah is a water source — a "fountain of the waters" — that fixes part of the shared boundary between Judah and Benjamin in the conquest land-allotments. It is mentioned only in the two boundary descriptions, once from each tribe's side.

On Judah's North Border

Tracing Judah's border, the survey moves through the hill country and out by the spring: "and the border extended from the top of the mountain to the fountain of the waters of Nephtoah, and went out to Iyyim of mount Ephron; and the border extended to Baalah (the same is Kiriath-jearim);" (Jos 15:9). Nephtoah here is one of the named waypoints between the mountaintop and Iyyim of mount Ephron.

On Benjamin's South Border

The same fountain reappears in the corresponding description for Benjamin, on the south side: "And the south quarter was from the uttermost part of Kiriath-jearim; and the border went out toward Iyyim, and went out to the fountain of the waters of Nephtoah;" (Jos 18:15). The two notices line up — Kiriath-jearim, Iyyim, the fountain — and place Nephtoah on the line dividing the two tribes.