Ain

Ain ("spring") was a town in the Negev allotted to the tribe of Simeon (Joshua 19:7, 1 Chronicles 4:32), and later set apart as one of the Levitical cities given to the sons of Aaron within Simeon and Judah (Joshua 21:16). The town's name marks it as a settlement built around a natural spring — a vital resource on the arid southern frontier. A separate Ain appears in Numbers 34:11 as a boundary point on the northern frontier of Canaan east of the Sea of Galilee. The Simeonite Ain is generally identified with a site in the western Negev near Beersheba.