What Does Judges 1:10 Mean in the King James?

And Judah went against the Canaanites that dwelt in Hebron: (now the name of Hebron before was Kirjath-arba:) and they slew Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai.

Judges 1:10 · 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.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

Judah, a name rooted in praise, confronts the inhabitants of Hebron, a name rooted in joining, while the verse keeps the city’s former name, Kirjath-arba, visible.

THE MEANING

Judah moves against those dwelling in Hebron, and the killing is named plainly: Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai are struck down. Hebron carries its earlier name, Kirjath-arba, beside it, so the place holds more than one layer of identity. The roots of the names hold praise and joining within the same confrontation.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

A place’s current name erases the identity it carried before.

THE ROOT

יְהוּדָה

Yehudah

GROWS FROM

י־ד־ה

y-d-h

Praise, give thanks, acknowledge.

Judah’s name carries the root of praise and thanksgiving. Leah makes the connection explicit when she says, “Now will I praise the LORD,” and names her son Judah; here that name enters a scene of confrontation.

ALSO GROWS

yādâ: Praise, give thanks, acknowledge.

יָדָה

This is the verb Leah uses when she says, “Now will I praise,” tying Judah’s name to the act itself.

tôdâ: Thanksgiving, praise.

תּוֹדָה

This noun carries the same root into expressed thanks, showing that Judah’s name and the language of praise share a seed.

חֶבְרוֹן

Ḥevron

GROWS FROM

ח־ב־ר

ḥ-b-r

Join, bind, associate.

Hebron is commonly connected to ⁨חבר⁩, the root of joining and association, giving the place-name a relational sense beneath its geographic use. The verse also preserves Kirjath-arba as an earlier name; its elements can be read as “town of four,” while Arba is also a personal name.

ALSO GROWS

ḥābar: Join, bind, associate.

חָבַר

The verb exposes the joining sense carried beneath Hebron’s use as a place-name.

ḥāvēr: Companion, associate.

חָבֵר

This branch names one who is joined with another, opening the relational meaning held in Hebron.

ḥeber: Company, association, band.

חֶבֶר

This noun makes the sense of a joined group audible within the name of the place where the confrontation occurs.

THE PATTERN

A name can keep a place’s past or a person’s nature visible alongside the name used now.

And Sarah died in Kirjath-arba; the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan: and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her.

Genesis 23:2 · KJVThe verse identifies one place by both Kirjath-arba and Hebron, preserving its layered naming.

And the name of Hebron before was Kirjath-arba; which Arba was a great man among the Anakims. And the land had rest from war.

Joshua 14:15 · KJVThe former name remains visible, and Arba is also presented as a person whose name is held in the place-name.

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 · KJVSimon remains named as Jesus gives him Cephas, explicitly revealing the nature carried by the second name.

THE THREAD

And she conceived again, and bare a son: and she said, Now will I praise the LORD: therefore she called his name Judah; and left bearing.

Genesis 29:35 · KJV

Genesis 29:35 spells out the root behind Judah: Leah says, “Now will I praise,” and gives her son that name. In Judges 1:10, Judah carries that same praise-root into a line of confrontation.

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