What Does 2 Samuel 24:7 Mean?
And they came to the stronghold of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites, and they went out to the dry south of Judah, even to Beersheba.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And came to the strong hold of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites: and they went out to the south of Judah, even to Beer-sheba.THE KEY
Beer-sheba gathers the route into a name where “seven” and “oath” share one Hebrew root.
THE MEANING
The verse sets a route from a stronghold through named peoples and cities to Judah’s southern edge at Beer-sheba. The endpoint carries another layer: its name joins a well with “seven,” while the same Hebrew root also forms “oath.”
THE ROOT
שֶׁבַע
shevaʿ
GROWS FROM
שׁבע
Seven; the same consonantal root also forms the verb “to swear” and the noun “oath.”
The name Beer-sheba can be heard as “well of seven” and as “well of the oath.” That shared root lets the route’s endpoint hold number and pledged speech together.
ALSO GROWS
shevaʿ: Seven
שֶׁבַע
It gives the place-name its “seven” sense.
shevuʿah: Oath
שְׁבוּעָה
It reveals the pledge contained in the same root as “seven.”
THE PATTERN
Scripture lets a name carry a second layer of meaning beyond its role as a label.
Therefore he called that place the well of the swearing, Beersheba, because there the two of them swore.And he called the name of that place Bethel, house of God; but the name of that city was called Luz at the first.And he led him to Jesus. And Jesus, fixing his gaze on him, said, You are Simon, son of John. You will be called Cephas, the rock.THE THREAD
Therefore he called that place the well of the swearing, Beersheba, because there the two of them swore.Genesis 21:31 makes the oath sense audible by connecting Beer-sheba with swearing. That gives this verse’s endpoint a second register: its name holds both seven and pledged speech.
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