‘ Libnah, and Ether, and Ashan. And Iphtah, and Ashnah, and Nezib, and Keilah, and Achzib, and Mareshah. Nine cities with their villages.'
These are not all specifically identifiable to a particular area but are related to the Shephelah. The site of Libnah, a royal city, has not been satisfactorily identified. Its position is generally indicated by the order of events in Joshua 10:28-37. Ether and Ashan also appear in Joshua 19:7 as Simeonite cities ‘with their villages', shared with Judah, which demonstrates that they are more to the south. See also 1 Chronicles 4:32; 1 Chronicles 6:59. Iphtah, Ashnah, and Nezib are unidentifiable at present.
Keilah is mentioned in Nehemiah 3:17-18, and in 1 Samuel 23:1-5 as subject to Philistine invasion resulting in a great victory for David. It is probably the Kelti of the Amarna letters, and may be Khirbet Qila on a hill ten kilometres east of Beit Guvrin which commands the ascent to Hebron south from Socoh, in the valley between the Shephelah and the hills. Achzib is possibly the Chezib of Genesis 38:5 and later conquered by Sennacherib (see also Micah 1:14). Mareshah is a town in the Shephelah covering the road up the Wadi Zeita to Hebron. It is now Tell Sandahanna. The inhabitants claimed descent from Shelah (1 Chronicles 4:21). See also Micah 1:15.