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Person Old Testament

Japhia

Japhia was the king of Lachish, one of the Amorite cities defeated by Joshua. Mentioned once in Scripture, at Joshua 10:3.

Why it matters. King of Lachish, defeated by Joshua

Primary passages
Last reviewed
2026-08-30 by the FaithGraph team

About Japhia

Japhia is mentioned in Jos.10.3 as the king of Lachish, one of the Amorite cities that formed an alliance against the Israelites during the conquest of Canaan. When the people of Gibeon made a peace treaty with Israel, Japhia joined forces with Adoni-Zedek, king of Jerusalem, and three other Amorite kings to attack Gibeon. In response, Joshua and the Israelite army came to Gibeon's defense and, with the help of God, defeated the Amorite kings and their armies (Jos.10.1-27). Lachish, along with the other Amorite cities, was conquered by Joshua and the Israelites. The text does not provide any further details about Japhia's life or his fate after the battle.

Description from STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, lightly reformatted. This is background reference material, not Scripture and not a FaithGraph editorial claim.

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Appears in Scripture

Named in 1 verse across 1 book. Occurrence data from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0); references only, no translation text.

  • Joshua (1 verse)

    10:3

Record type: Person. FaithGraph explanations on this page are editorial and are not Scripture.