shē´ma ( שׁמע , shemā‛ ; Σαμαά , Samaá ): A city of Judah in the Negeb ( Joshua 15:26 ). If, as some think, identical with SHEBA (which see) of Joshua 19:2 , then the latter must have been inserted here from Joshua 15:26 . It is noticeable that the root letters (שׁמע , sh -m -‛ ) were those from which Simeon is derived. Shema is probably identical with Jeshua (Nehemiah 11:26 ). The place was clearly far South, and it may be Kh . Sa‛wah , a ruin upon a prominent hilltop between Kh . ‛Attı̄r and Khirbet el -Milḥ . There is a wall around the ruins, of large blocks of conglomerate flint (PEF , III, 409, Sh XXV ).
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