JOKNEAM jŏk’ nĭ əm (יָקְנְעָֽם; LXX ̓Ιεκμάν). A city in the territory of Zebulun (Josh 19:11) which was assigned to the Merarite families as a Levitical city (21:34). The king of this royal Canaanite city “in Carmel” is included in the list of kings defeated by Joshua on the W of the Jordan (12:22). This list prob. includes the major cities that participated in the war as allies of Hazor against Israel. Jokneam is identified with Tell Quimun (Heb. Tel Yoqneam), a mound located at 160/230 on the Pal. grid of coordinates, or at the NW end of the plain of Esdraelon, seven m. NW of Megiddo. It is one of the fortresses that guarded the routes across Carmel. Although it was not on the main N-S trade route (Via Maris), it was on the branch of it which ran from Megiddo to the plain of Acco. It secured the only pass across Carmel which had access to the port of Dor, and it had the advantage of being the lowest of the passes in elevation. Jokneam appears as number 113 in a list of 119 towns captured by Thutmose III (written ’-n q-n-'-m). The route was considered by the officers of Thutmose as a possible alternate to the Megiddo route. Napoleon used this route for his march against Acre.

Bibliography D. Baly, The Geography of the Bible (1957), 115, 131, 151, 153; Y. Aharoni, The Land of the Bible (1967), 47f., 139, 151, 203, 209f., 237, 379.