What Does Genesis 21:31 Mean?
Therefore he called that place the well of the swearing, Beersheba, because there the two of them swore.
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
Wherefore he called that place Beer-sheba; because there they sware both of them.THE KEY
The name Beer-sheba holds both the oath and the seven lambs that witness it.
THE MEANING
A shared oath gives the well a name that carries their agreement forward. The Hebrew name echoes both “oath” and “seven,” linking the promise to the seven lambs set apart as its witness.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a spoken agreement vanishes when the conversation ends: here, the oath is carried forward in the name of the well.
THE ROOT
וַיִּשָּׁבְעוּ
vayyishav'u
GROWS FROM
שׁבע
The root sh-b-ʿ carries the sense “to swear an oath”; the same Hebrew root also gives the word for “seven.”
“the well of the swearing, Beersheba” in this verse is vayyishav'u. English separates the oath from the number, but the Hebrew name Beer-sheba holds both together. The seven lambs witness the oath, so the place itself keeps their shared promise in view.
ALSO GROWS
shevu'ah: Oath
שְׁבוּעָה
This branch names the vow that both men make at the well.
sheva: Seven
שֶׁבַע
This branch echoes the seven ewe lambs offered as a witness just before the place is named.
THE PATTERN
A spoken oath is made durable through a witness that keeps the agreement present.
And he said, For these seven ewe lambs you shall take from my hand, that they may be a witness to me, that I dug this well.And Joshua said to all the people, Look, this stone shall be a witness for us, for it has heard all the words of the LORD that he spoke with us. It shall be a witness among you, lest you deny your God.For humankind swears by the greater, and an oath for steadying is for them the boundary of every word set against.THE THREAD
And he said, For these seven ewe lambs you shall take from my hand, that they may be a witness to me, that I dug this well.The seven lambs are named as witnesses immediately before the place receives the name Beer-sheba. The Hebrew root שׁבע (sh-b-ʿ) links “seven” with “swear,” letting the lambs and the oath meet inside the name.
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