What Does Numbers 32:36 Mean in the King James?
And Beth-nimrah, and Beth-haran, fenced cities: and folds for sheep.
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 verse names two kinds of enclosure, fortified cities and sheepfolds, as part of one structure of protection.
THE MEANING
Beth-nimrah and Beth-haran both begin with בֵּית (bêt, “house”), placing named homes beside the sheepfolds in a landscape of shelter. The verse presents a settled community as held by boundaries that protect people and flock.
THE ROOT
גִּדְרֹת
gidrōt
GROWS FROM
גדר
g-d-r
To enclose or fence in; a wall or boundary.
“folds” in this verse is gidrōt. The word for sheepfolds shares its root with words for walls and fencing. Hebrew gathers these forms into one idea: a boundary that makes a protected space.
ALSO GROWS
gādar: To wall in, fence, or enclose.
גָּדַר
The action behind a fold: making a bounded place for the flock.
gādēr: A wall or fence.
גָּדֵר
The same root names the barrier that marks and protects a space.
מִבְצָר
mibtsar
GROWS FROM
בצר
b-ṣ-r
To cut off or make inaccessible; hence, to fortify.
“fenced cities” in this verse is mibtsar. The cities are described by the strength of their defenses: they are made difficult to enter. Alongside the sheepfolds, the verse places a town’s strong perimeter and a flock’s enclosure in the same picture of protection.
ALSO GROWS
bāṣūr: Fortified or inaccessible.
בָּצוּר
It describes the condition created by a city’s defenses.
mibtsār: Fortified place or stronghold.
מִבְצָר
It names the defended structure that the verse calls a fenced city.
THE PATTERN
Care becomes visible in boundaries that preserve a community and its vulnerable life.
All these cities were fenced with high walls, gates, and bars; beside unwalled towns a great many.The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.THE THREAD
And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:The Hebrew word for the vineyard’s wall comes from גדר (g-d-r), the same root as the sheepfolds here. Numbers names enclosure as shelter; Isaiah shows the vineyard exposed when its boundary is removed.
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