What Does Judges 1:11 Mean in the King James?
And from thence he went against the inhabitants of Debir: and the name of Debir before was Kirjath-sepher:
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 city’s two names hold written record and spoken utterance together: Kirjath-sepher means “city of the book,” while Debir is linked to the Hebrew word-family of speaking.
THE MEANING
This place is known through both its present name, Debir, and its earlier name, Kirjath-sepher, “city of the book.” Debir is commonly understood as “oracle” or “inner sanctuary” and associated with the Hebrew speak-and-word family. The older name remains audible inside the newer one.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The old name is gone once a place is renamed. The verse keeps that earlier name present.
THE ROOT
דְּבִיר
dəḇîr
GROWS FROM
ד־ב־ר
d-b-r
To speak or utter; the related noun דָּבָר (dāḇār, dabar) means “word” or “matter.” Debir is commonly understood as “oracle” or “inner sanctuary.”
Debir is associated with the speak-and-word family. Beside the older name “city of the book,” it lets the place carry both the recorded word and the uttered word.
ALSO GROWS
dāḇār: Word, matter, or utterance.
דָּבָר
It makes the word-and-speech family behind Debir visible.
dibber: He spoke or uttered.
דִּבֵּר
This verb gives the spoken side of the word-family associated with Debir.
סֵפֶר
sēfer
GROWS FROM
ס־פ־ר
s-p-r
To count, recount, tell, or record.
Sefer means a book or written record, from a family that also includes counting and recounting. The old name therefore evokes words gathered and preserved, beside Debir’s association with spoken words.
ALSO GROWS
sāfar: To count, recount, or tell.
סָפַר
It shows how the book-name belongs to a family of preserving and recounting.
sōfēr: Scribe.
סוֹפֵר
The scribe is the person who gathers words into a written record.
THE PATTERN
A name gathers a person’s or place’s nature into a word, and another name can disclose another layer of it.
And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name.He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.THE THREAD
And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.Both verses use שֵׁם (shem, “name”): Judges names Debir’s former identity, while Genesis says the name given to a living creature is what it is called. The shared word connects naming with recognizing what a place or being carries.
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