What Does Joshua 15:28 Mean in the King James?
And Hazar-shual, and Beer-sheba, and Bizjothjah,
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
In Beer-sheba, “seven” and “swear an oath” share the same Hebrew root, so this bare list hides an oath inside a place-name.
THE MEANING
You meet three place-names in a row: Hazar-shual, often understood as “fox settlement”; Beer-sheba, “well of seven,” with an oath echo; and Bizjothjah, commonly read as “contempt of Yah.” The verse gives each name without a gloss, compressing the landscape into an animal, a number joined to an oath, and a sharp phrase.
THE ROOT
בְּאֵר שֶׁבַע
Beʾer Shevaʿ
GROWS FROM
שבע
š-b-ʿ
The same three-consonant root carries “seven” and, in a related verbal form, “swear an oath.”
“Beer-sheba” in this verse is Beʾer Shevaʿ. The name means “well of seven” and carries an oath association because the verb “swore” in Genesis 21:31 uses the same three consonants. The place-name holds number, well, and oath in one compressed phrase.
ALSO GROWS
shevaʿ: Seven
שֶׁבַע
This is the second element in Beer-sheba, keeping the number inside the name.
nishbeʿu: They swore an oath
נִשְׁבְּעוּ
Genesis 21:31 uses this form beside the name Beer-sheba, making the oath association explicit.
חֲצַר שׁוּעָל
Chatser Shual
GROWS FROM
חצר
ḥ-ṣ-r
An enclosure or courtyard; by extension, a settlement or village.
Hazar-shual is often understood as “settlement of the fox.” The second element, שׁוּעָל (shual), means “fox,” joining an inhabited place to the animal named in its name.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāṣēr: Courtyard, enclosure
חָצֵר
This is the enclosure sense carried by the first element of Hazar-shual.
ḥaṣērîm: Settlements, villages
חֲצֵרִים
This plural form shows the same word-family used for settled places, supporting the village sense of the name.
בִּזְיוֹת יָהּ
Bizyot Yah
GROWS FROM
בזה
b-z-h
To despise or treat as contemptible.
Bizjothjah is commonly interpreted as “contempt of Yah”: its first element comes from the root for despising, while יָהּ (Yah) is a shortened divine name. Its pointed meaning is carried inside a proper name that the verse leaves unexplained.
ALSO GROWS
bāzāh: To despise, treat as contemptible
בָּזָה
This verb gives the basic action behind the name’s contempt sense.
bizzāyôn: Contempt, disgrace
בִּזָּיוֹן
This noun shows how the same root expresses contempt as a condition or judgment.
THE PATTERN
Scripture’s names can carry a place’s feature, an event, or a nature within them.
Wherefore he called that place Beer-sheba; because there they sware both of them.And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah-nissi:Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.THE THREAD
Wherefore he called that place Beer-sheba; because there they sware both of them.Genesis 21:31 makes the oath audible inside the name Beer-sheba, which Joshua 15:28 gives without explanation. The shared root of “seven” and “swore” turns the place-name into a compressed link between number and oath.
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