What Does Genesis 26:33 Mean in the King James?

And he called it Shebah: therefore the name of the city is Beer-sheba unto this day.

Genesis 26:33 · 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

The name preserves a double meaning: the well is marked by both seven and the oath that seals the agreement.

THE MEANING

A place name can keep a bond visible. Here, the well and the sworn agreement stay joined in Beer-sheba, a name that carries their connection into the verse’s present.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

A name is only a label, with no nature or memory inside it.

THE ROOT

שִׁבְעָה

shibʿāh

GROWS FROM

שׁבע

sh-b-ʿ

Seven; the related verb means to swear or bind oneself by an oath.

The Hebrew sound folds seven and swearing into the name: Shebah echoes both branches of ⁨שׁבע⁩. The well’s name carries the oath alongside the water, a sound-link that the English place-name does not fully show.

ALSO GROWS

shevaʿ: Seven

שֶׁבַע

This branch is heard in the name Shebah and gives the place-name its resonance of seven.

shavaʿ: To swear, to bind oneself by an oath

שָׁבַע

The preceding agreement gives the name its oath-bearing sense: the well’s name holds the sworn bond.

THE PATTERN

A sworn word gives an agreement a lasting shape and can bring contention to an end.

Wherefore he called that place Beer-sheba; because there they sware both of them.

Genesis 21:31 · KJVThe place is named Beer-sheba because the two parties swear there, joining the name to their agreement.

And Joshua made peace with them, and made a league with them, to let them live: and the princes of the congregation sware unto them.

Joshua 9:15 · KJVThe oath gives a public, binding form to the agreement that lets them live.

For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.

Hebrews 6:16 · KJVThe verse states directly how an oath confirms an agreement and ends strife.

THE THREAD

Wherefore he called that place Beer-sheba; because there they sware both of them.

Genesis 21:31 · KJV

Genesis 21:31 makes the link between Beer-sheba and swearing explicit. The shared Hebrew consonants ⁨שׁבע⁩ hold seven and oath together, so the place-name carries the bond as well as the well.

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