What Does Genesis 10:11 Mean in the King James?

Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah,

Genesis 10:11 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

Rehoboth means “broad places,” making spaciousness part of the city’s name.

THE MEANING

Departure takes shape as a built city, and one city bears a name meaning “broad places.” The verse lets room and spaciousness be part of what is built.

THE ROOT

רְחֹבוֹת

Rechovot

GROWS FROM

רחב

r-ḥ-b

To become wide or spacious; the root gives rise to words for open, broad places.

English keeps Rehoboth as a place-name, while Hebrew also lets it read as “broad places.” The city carries spaciousness in its name, echoing the same root used for a broad place where distress gives way to room.

ALSO GROWS

rāḥaḇ: To become wide or spacious.

רָחַב

This verb gives the city-name its sense of breadth: Rehoboth is named for spaciousness.

merḥav: A broad place; an open expanse.

מֶרְחָב

This noun appears in Psalm 118:5 for the large place where the speaker is set, showing the root’s movement from a name to lived room.

rəḥōḇ: A street or open square.

רְחֹב

The branch suggests that the root’s breadth can describe shared, usable space within a settlement.

THE PATTERN

Across Scripture, widening becomes an image of room opened within distress, place, and even the heart.

I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, and set me in a large place.

Psalm 118:5 · KJVThe verse moves from ⁨מֵצַר⁩ (meṣar, a narrow place or distress) to ⁨רָחָב⁩ (rāḥāḇ, broad or spacious), making room the answer to constriction.

He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.

Psalm 18:19 · KJV“Large place” is ⁨מֶרְחָב⁩ (merḥav, broad place), from the same ⁨רחב⁩ (r-ḥ-b, become spacious) root as Rehoboth.

O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged.

2 Corinthians 6:11 · KJVThe image turns inward: ⁨πεπλάτυνται⁩ (peplatyntai, has been enlarged) describes the heart as widened.

THE THREAD

I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, and set me in a large place.

Psalm 118:5 · KJV

The “large place,” ⁨מֶרְחָב⁩ (merḥav, broad place), shares the ⁨רחב⁩ (r-ḥ-b, become spacious) root with Rehoboth. Here that breadth becomes a movement from distress into room.

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