What Does Joshua 19:2 Mean in the King James?

And they had in their inheritance Beer-sheba, or Sheba, and Moladah,

Joshua 19:2 · 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

This inheritance holds a well joined to an oath and a place named for birth, so its map carries promise and new life inside possession.

THE MEANING

Your inheritance is more than what is handed to you: its names hold a well bound to an oath and a place of birth. What you receive carries both a pledged source and the language of life coming forth.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

This undoes the belief that inheritance is only static possession; the names here carry a vow and birth within it.

THE ROOT

בְּאֵר שֶׁבַע

Be'er Sheva

GROWS FROM

שׁבע

Seven; in oath language, to swear or bind by an oath.

“Beer-sheba / Sheba” in this verse is Be'er Sheva. Be’er (⁨בְּאֵר⁩, be’er, “well”) and Sheva (⁨שֶׁבַע⁩, shevaʿ, “seven”) make Beer-sheba; the same consonants ⁨שׁבע⁩ appear in nishbaʿ (⁨נִשְׁבַּע⁩, “swore”), linking the name’s seven with oath-language. The name carries both a well and a sworn bond, preserving a source and a promise within one place-name.

ALSO GROWS

shevaʿ: Seven

שֶׁבַע

The number is built into Beer-sheba’s name and recalls the seven lambs associated with the oath at the well.

nishbaʿ: Swore; took an oath

נִשְׁבַּע

This verb shares the root and reveals the sworn bond carried by the place-name.

shevuʿah: Oath

שְׁבוּעָה

The oath branch makes the name more than a geographic label: it holds a binding promise.

מוֹלָדָה

Môlādāh

GROWS FROM

ילד

yalad

To bear, beget, or bring forth.

Moladah grows from ⁨ילד⁩ (yalad, “bear, beget”), the root also heard in yeled (⁨יֶלֶד⁩, “child”) and toledot (⁨תּוֹלְדוֹת⁩, “generations”). The name within the inheritance points toward what is brought forth: the allotment carries the language of birth and continuation.

ALSO GROWS

yalad: To bear or beget

יָלַד

This is the root that gives Moladah its birth-related sense.

yeled: Child

יֶלֶד

A child is what is brought forth, making the root’s life-bearing sense concrete.

toledot: Generations; what is brought forth

תּוֹלְדוֹת

This branch extends birth into continuation across generations, deepening the sense carried by Moladah.

THE PATTERN

A name keeps the meaning of a place or person inside the story rather than leaving it as a label.

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

Genesis 21:31 · KJVBeer-sheba’s name preserves the oath made there, just as Joshua’s list carries the name into an inheritance.

And he called the name of that place Beth-el: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first.

Genesis 28:19 · KJVBethel (⁨בֵּית־אֵל⁩, Bethel, “house of God”) gives the place a name that carries meaning within it.

And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.

John 1:42 · KJVCephas (⁨כֵּיפָא⁩, kēp̄āʾ, “stone”) shows a name carrying the nature expressed by the name itself.

THE THREAD

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

Genesis 21:31 · KJV

Genesis makes the shared root audible: Beer-sheba’s ⁨שבע⁩ (shevaʿ, “seven”) echoes in ⁨נשבע⁩ (nishbaʿ, “swore”), joining the place-name to an oath. Joshua’s list carries that remembered bond into the inheritance.

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