A town in Upper Galilee, in the territory of Naphtali; assigned to the clan of Gershon of tribe of Levi as a town of refuge (Joshua 21:31); later captured by Tiglath-Pileser.
About Kedesh (in Upper Galilee)
2. City of refuge in upper Galilee, in the territory of Naphtali (Jos 20:7), set apart for the Gershonite clan of Levi (Jos 21:32; 1 Chr 6:76), and the home of Barak (Jgs 4:6). It was conquered by Tiglath-pileser III in 732 BC (2 Kgs 15:29). Jonathan Maccabeus defeated the army of Demetrius there (1 Macc 11:63, 73). It is identified with Tell Qades, four and a half miles (7.2 kilometers) northwest of Lake Huleh.
Key References
To the rest of the Kohathites, ten cities were allotted from the half-tribe of Manasseh.
And from the tribe of Naphtali they were given Kedesh in Galilee (a city of refuge for the manslayer), Hammoth-dor, and Kartan—three cities, together with their pasturelands.
All Scripture References (10)
Joshua (4)
the king of Kedesh, one; the king of Jokneam in Carmel, one;
Kedesh, Edrei, En-hazor,
So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah.
And from the tribe of Naphtali they were given Kedesh in Galilee (a city of refuge for the manslayer), Hammoth-dor, and Kartan—three cities, together with their pasturelands.
Judges (4)
She summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “Surely the LORD, the God of Israel, is commanding you: ‘Go and march to Mount Tabor, taking with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun.
“I will certainly go with you,” Deborah replied, “but the road you are taking will bring you no honor, because the LORD will be selling Sisera into the hand of a woman.” So Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh,
where he summoned Zebulun and Naphtali. Ten thousand men followed him, and Deborah also went with him.
Now Heber the Kenite had moved away from the Kenites, the descendants of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent by the great tree of Zaanannim, which was near Kedesh.
2 Kings (1)
In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came and captured Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, including all the land of Naphtali, and he took the people as captives to Assyria.
1 Chronicles (1)
To the rest of the Kohathites, ten cities were allotted from the half-tribe of Manasseh.