Jokneam

Jokneam ("the people lament") was a fortified Canaanite town at the southern foot of Mount Carmel, controlling the pass from the Jezreel Valley to the Mediterranean coastal plain. Its king was among the thirty-one Canaanite kings Joshua defeated (Joshua 12:22). It became part of the inheritance of Zebulun (Joshua 19:11) and was assigned as a Levitical town to the Merarite clan (Joshua 21:34). Under Solomon, the Jezreel-Megiddo plain — including Jokneam — formed the fifth administrative district under Baana son of Ahilud (1 Kings 4:12). Identified with Tel Yokneam (Tell Qaimun) on the major road from the coastal plain into the Jezreel.