Zanoah was a town in the territory of Judah. The biblical record appears to preserve more than one location bearing this name, including a town in the Shephelah and another associated with the hill country.
The best-known Zanoah appears in the postexilic period, when inhabitants of the town participated in rebuilding Jerusalem's walls under Nehemiah.
The Shephelah town is commonly identified with Khirbet Zanu or the area of modern Zanoah west of Jerusalem.
Joshua lists Zanoah among the towns of Judah in the Shephelah.
Another list in Joshua includes a Zanoah among settlements of the Judean hill country, suggesting either a second town of the same name or a textual/geographical complication.
Nehemiah records that Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah repaired the Valley Gate and a substantial section of Jerusalem's wall.
Nehemiah also lists Zanoah among Judean settlements inhabited after the return from exile.
The Shephelah of Judah contained numerous agricultural towns along routes between the coastal plain and the Judean highlands.
Zanoah appears to have survived or been resettled sufficiently for its inhabitants to participate in the restoration of Jerusalem during the Persian period.
The existence of more than one biblical reference-group for Zanoah requires caution when assigning every passage to the same archaeological site.
The Zanoah of the Judean Shephelah is commonly identified with Khirbet Zanu, west of Jerusalem near the modern locality bearing a related name.
The preservation of the ancient name and appropriate geographical setting support this identification.
A second Zanoah may have existed in the Judean hill country. AVWJ should therefore avoid automatically assigning every biblical occurrence to the same site.