Japhia

Japhia ("high" or "lofty") was a boundary point on the eastern frontier of Zebulun's tribal inheritance in lower Galilee, named in Joshua 19:12: "And turned from Sarid eastward toward the sunrising unto the border of Chisloth-tabor, and then goeth out to Daberath, and goeth up to Japhia." The site is identified with the modern village of Yafa an-Naseriyye about 3 km southwest of Nazareth — at the foot of the western slope of the Nazareth ridge. The town's strategic position commanded the southwestern approaches to the Jezreel Valley.