What Does Nehemiah 11:27 Mean in the King James?
And at Hazar-shual, and at Beer-sheba, and in the villages thereof,
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
Beer-sheba is more than a location: its name binds a well to an oath, while this list gives the surrounding villages a place beside it.
THE MEANING
Your lived map is made of named places and their surrounding communities, not only one center. Beer-sheba carries a well and an oath in its name, giving a remembered bond a place in that map.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Only prominent centers count; surrounding villages are incidental. This verse names the villages as part of the same inhabited landscape.
THE ROOT
בְּאֵר שֶׁבַע
beʾēr shevaʿ
GROWS FROM
שבע
sh-b-ʿ
Seven; in the verb, to swear an oath.
“Beer-sheba” in this verse is beʾēr shevaʿ. The name combines בְּאֵר (beʾēr), “well,” with שֶׁבַע (shevaʿ), “seven,” which also echoes the root of שְׁבוּעָה (shevuʿah), “oath.” English leaves this layered name as a label, while its Hebrew carries both the well and the sworn bond.
ALSO GROWS
shevaʿ: Seven
שֶׁבַע
The seven ewe lambs in Genesis 21:28–31 make the number audible in Beer-sheba’s name.
shevuʿah: Oath; a sworn bond
שְׁבוּעָה
Genesis 21:31 connects Beer-sheba with the oath sworn there, showing the bond held inside the place-name.
חֲצַר־שׁוּעָל
ḥaṣar-shūʿāl
GROWS FROM
חצר
ḥ-ṣ-r
An enclosed court or settlement.
“Hazar-shual” in this verse is ḥaṣar-shūʿāl. The name is commonly understood as “village of the fox” or “settlement of the jackal.” Its first element, חָצֵר (ḥāṣēr), means “settlement” or “enclosure,” so the name holds a dwelling-place together with the surrounding landscape.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāṣēr: Settlement, village, or court
חָצֵר
This settlement word is embedded in Hazar-shual, though English presents the whole name as a single label.
ḥăṣērōt: Enclosures or settlements; Hazeroth
חֲצֵרוֹת
This related place-name uses the same word-family, showing how the root names dwelling places.
THE PATTERN
A place name can keep a bond or inheritance present in the landscape across generations.
Wherefore he called that place Beer-sheba; because there they sware both of them.And he called it Shebah: therefore the name of the city is Beer-sheba unto this day.Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.THE THREAD
Wherefore he called that place Beer-sheba; because there they sware both of them.Genesis explains the oath carried by the name Beer-sheba. The root of “seven” also gives the Hebrew word for “oath,” joining the well and the sworn bond in the place-name.
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