From Ekron even unto the sea, all that lay near Ashdod, with their villages:
Ekron, х `Eqrown (H6138), eradication; Septuagint, Akkaroon] - one of the cities retained by the Philistines, situated in the northern part of their territory, which were assigned in the first instance to Judah; now 'Akir. It was situated on the northern border of Judah. According to Eusebius and Jerome ('Onomast.,' article 'Accaron') it lay between Azotus (Ashdod) and Jamnia, toward the east; 'that is to say, to the eastward of a right line between those as two places; and such is the actual position of 'Akir, relative to Esdud and Yebna, at the present day' (Robinson's 'Biblical Researches,' 3:, pp. 22-25).
Even unto the sea. [The Septuagint, instead of this latter clause, has: apo Akkaroon Gemna, or Iemnai (i:e., Jabuch); Tischendorf's various readings.]