What Does Numbers 11:3 Mean in the King James?

And he called the name of the place Taberah: because the fire of the LORD burnt among them.

Numbers 11:3 · 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

The place does not merely host the fire; it bears the name of its burning.

THE MEANING

You encounter fire burning among the people, and the place is named for that burning. Taberah holds the event in its own name, making the fire’s reach part of what the place is called.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It dissolves the idea that a name only identifies a place: Taberah names the burning that defines it.

THE ROOT

בָּעֲרָה

ba'arah

GROWS FROM

בער

ba'ar

Burn, consume.

The verb translated “burnt” and the name Taberah grow from ⁨בער⁩ (ba’ar, “burn, consume”): the place-name means “burning,” so the event becomes part of the place’s identity. This root also gives ⁨בִּעֵר⁩ (bi’er, “clear away, burn out”), linking consuming with removal while the verse keeps the fire’s reach among the people explicit.

ALSO GROWS

ba'ar: To burn or consume.

בָּעַר

This is the verb behind the fire’s action and the place-name Taberah.

bi'er: To clear away or burn out.

בִּעֵר

This form shows the root’s related sense of removing what is consumed.

THE PATTERN

Scripture presents the LORD’s fire through its consuming force, making that force part of how divine presence is recognized.

And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.

Leviticus 10:2 · KJVFire from the LORD reaches people with a consuming force, as it does in Numbers.

For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.

Deuteronomy 4:24 · KJVThe verse names the consuming quality of the LORD’s fire directly.

For our God is a consuming fire.

Hebrews 12:29 · KJVThis verse carries the same image of divine presence as consuming fire.

THE THREAD

And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

Exodus 3:2 · KJV

Exodus uses the same root ⁨בער⁩ (ba’ar, “burn”) for the bush burning in the fire, yet says it is not consumed. Beside Taberah, the shared root reveals two outcomes: fire can burn without consuming what it touches, or its reach can define the place itself.

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