Joshua 15:2

2 the beginning thereof from the height of the saltiest sea (its beginning was the end of the Salt Sea, that is, the Dead Sea), and from the arm thereof, that beholdeth to the south.

Joshua 15:2 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 15:2

And their south border was from the shore of the salt sea
Sometimes called the dead sea, the sea of Sodom, and the lake Asphaltites, which, as Jarchi observes, was southeast of the land of Israel:

from the bay that looketh southward;
or the "tongue", as the Hebrew, which the Targum and Kimchi interpret of a rock or promontory, the point that ran out into the sea, looking to the southeast.

Joshua 15:2 In-Context

1 Then this was the part of the sons of Judah, by their kindreds; from the term of Edom till to the desert of Zin against the south (from the border of Edom in the desert of Zin southward), and till to the last part of the south coast,

2 the beginning thereof from the height of the saltiest sea (its beginning was the end of the Salt Sea, that is, the Dead Sea), and from the arm thereof, that beholdeth to the south.

3 And it goeth out against the ascending of Scorpion (And it goeth out to Maalehacrabbim), and passeth into Zin; and it ascendeth into Kadeshbarnea, and cometh into Hezron, and it ascendeth to Adar, and compasseth Karkaa;

4 and from thence it passeth into Azmon, and cometh to the strand of Egypt; and the terms thereof shall be the great sea; this shall be the end of the south coast. (and from there it passeth into Azmon, and cometh to the River of Egypt, that is, the Nile River, or the Shihor; and its end, or its limit, shall be the Mediterranean Sea; this shall be the southern border.)

5 And from the east the beginning shall be the saltiest sea, unto the last parts of (the) Jordan (And on the east the beginning shall be the Salt Sea, or the Dead Sea, unto the last parts of the Jordan River), and those parts that behold (to) the north, from the arm of the sea unto the same flood of (the) Jordan.