Therefore he called that place Beersheba, because they both swore an oath there.
Parallel Translations
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Therefore he called that place Beersheba, because they both swore an oath there.
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Wherefore he called that place Beer-sheba; because there they sware both of them.
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Wherefore that place was called Beer-sheba; because there they swore both of them.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (7)
Passages linked to Genesis 21:31 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Genesis 26:33 He called it “Shibah”. Therefore the name of the city is “Beersheba” to this day.
- Genesis 21:14 Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread and a container of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder; and gave her the child, and sent her away. She departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.
- Genesis 26:23 He went up from there to Beersheba.
- Joshua 15:28 Hazar Shual, Beersheba, Biziothiah,
- Judges 20:1 Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was assembled as one man, from Dan even to Beersheba, with the land of Gilead, to Yahweh at Mizpah.
- 2 Samuel 17:11 But I counsel that all Israel be gathered together to you, from Dan even to Beersheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude; and that you go to battle in your own person.
- 1 Kings 4:25 Judah and Israel lived safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 31. Wherefore he called that place Beer-sheba. Moses has…
31. Wherefore he called that place Beer-sheba. Moses has once already called the place by this name, but proleptically. Now, however, he declares when, and for what reason, the name was given; namely, because there both he and Abimelech had sworn; therefore I translate the term ‘the well of swearing.’ Others translate it ‘the well of seven.’ But Moses plainly derives the word from swearing; nor is it of any consequence that the pronunciation slightly varies from grammatical correctness, which in proper names is not very nicely observed. In fact, Moses does not restrict the etymology to the well, but comprises the whole covenant. I do not, however, deny that Moses might allude to the number seven
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Or, well of the oath, or of seven, meaning…
Or, well of the oath, or of seven, meaning lambs.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Gen 21:31 Wherefore he called that place Beersheba; because…
Gen 21:31 Wherefore he called that place Beersheba; because there they sware both of them.
Ver. 31. They sware both of them.] Or, they were sworn. The Hebrew is passive ( נשׁבע). To show that an oath is not rashly to he undertaken, but by a kind of necessity imposed. It comes of a root that signifies to satisfy; because he, to whom we swear, must therewith be contented. An oath is an end of strife, saith the apostle. {Heb 6:16} The Greeks call it ορχος ψυασι ερχος, a hedge, which a man may not break.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Which name was communicated unto a city adjoining: of…
Which name was communicated unto a city adjoining: of which see Gen 26:23; Jos 15:28; 2Sa 17:11; 24:2.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And Abraham sojourned in the Philistines' land many days.…
And Abraham sojourned in the Philistines' land many days. Even many years, days being sometimes put for years; having entered into covenant with Abimelech, the king of the country, and settled a good correspondence with him, and having his friendship and good will, which commanded respect from his subjects, Abraham sojourned very quietly and comfortably for many years, chiefly at Beersheba; the Jewish writers say (a) he sojourned here twenty six years.
(a) Jarchi & Bereshit Rabba, sect. 54. fol. 48. 4.
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John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Beer-sheba - That is, the well of the oath,…
Beer-sheba - That is, the well of the oath, in remembrance of the covenant that they swear to, that they might be ever mindful of it.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 31. He called that place Beer-sheba] באר שבע…
Verse 31. He called that place Beer-sheba] באר שבע Beer-shaba, literally, the well of swearing or of the oath, because they both sware there-mutually confirmed the covenant.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Gen 21:31. Beer-sheba — That is, the well of…
Gen 21:31. Beer-sheba — That is, the well of the oath, or the well of the seven, (for the word equally signifies either,) alluding to the seven ewe- lambs which Abraham set by themselves and gave to Abimelech. Probably when a covenant was solemnly made and confirmed by an oath, seven lambs or sheep were wont to be offered.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Bersabee. That is, the well of oath; (Challoner) or…
Bersabee. That is, the well of oath; (Challoner) or "the well of the seven;" meaning the seven ewe-lambs set apart. (Menochius) --- This precaution of Abraham, in giving seven lambs as a testimony that the well was dug by him, was not without reason. See chap. xxvi. 15. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 31. Beer-sheba — Which means well of the oath,…
31. Beer-sheba — Which means well of the oath, or, well of the seven, in allusion to the seven lambs by which Abraham here confirmed his covenant with Abimelech. In a broad valley, some twelve hours’ travel south of Hebron, Dr. Robinson discovered two deep wells, still called Bir es-Seba, probably the very same as those dug by the servants of Abraham and Isaac. Compare Gen_26:32. “These wells are some distance apart; they are circular, and stoned up with solid masonry. The larger one is twelve and a half feet in diameter and forty-four and a half feet deep to the surface of the water, sixteen feet of which, at the bottom, is excavated in the solid rock. The other well lies fifty-five rods W.S.W., and is five feet in diameter and forty-two feet deep. The water in both is pure and sweet, and in great abundance; the finest, indeed, we had found since leaving Sinai.” — ROBINSON, Biblical Researches, vol. i, p. 204. Such wells would be of the first importance to a great shepherd chief.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 31. Beer-sheba] LXX φρέαρ ὁρκισμοῦ: the derivation here given…
31. Beer-sheba] LXX φρέαρ ὁρκισμοῦ: the derivation here given is “because there they sware both of them.” The word in Heb. “they sware” (nishb‘u) is the reflexive form of the verb shaba‘. This derivation of Beer-sheba, as “the well of swearing,” is clearly not a complete explanation of the word. The correct derivation—“the well of seven”—is probably hinted at in Abraham’s pledge of the seven lambs. At Beer sheba, there were also “seven” wells, which can even now be identified. But there is a close connexion between the Heb. word “seven,” and the Heb. word “to swear”; and if, as seems probable, the Heb. nishba‘ “to swear” meant originally “to bind oneself by staking, or pledging, seven things,” we can see that the well of “seven” and the well of “swearing” were practically identical in significance.
Beer-sheba stood on the southernmost boundary of Palestine, at the edge of the desert, about 50 miles S.W. of Jerusalem. In later days it was famous as a sacred place of pilgrimage, Amo_5:5; Amo_8:14.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (31) Beer-sheba.—That is, the well of seven, but with…
(31) Beer-sheba.—That is, the well of seven, but with a covert allusion to the seven lambs having been used for the ratification of an oath. Robinson found the exact site in the Wady-es-Seba, with its name still preserved as Bir-es-Seba. There are there two wells of solid construction, the first twelve and a half feet in diameter; the other, situated about 200 yards to the south, much smaller, being only five feet in diameter. Both are lined with solid masonry, and reach down to never-failing springs in the rock. Around are stone troughs for watering the cattle, and the parapet of the larger well is worn into deep indentations, by the ropes used in drawing the water (Finn, Bye-ways in Palestine, p. 190).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Wherefore he called that place Beersheba. Ie. "the well…
Wherefore he called that place Beersheba. Ie. "the well of the oath," frear oJrkismou (LXX, Gesenius, Furst, Rosenm or the well of the seven (Keil), rather than the seven wells (Lange); discovered by Robinson in Bir-es-seba, in the Wady-es-seba, twelve miles to the south of Hebron, with two deep wells of excellent water. "The great well has an internal diameter at the mouth of twelve feet six inches, or a circumference of nearly forty feet. The shaft is formed of excellent masonry to a great depth until it reaches the rock, and at this juncture a spring trickles perpetually. Around the mouth of the well is a circular course of masonry, topped by a circular parapet of about a foot high; and at a distance of ten or twelve feet are stone troughs placed in a concentric circle with the well, the sides of which have deep indentions made by the wear of ropes on the upper edges The second well, about 200 yards farther south, is not more than five feet in diameter, but is formed of equally good masonry, and furnishes equally good water" (vide "Byeways in Palestine," by James Finn, M.R.A.S., p. 190). Because there they aware both of them.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 he called that place
he called that place
"Abraham called that place"
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Beersheba
Translators may add a footnote saying "Beersheba can mean either "well of the oath" or "well of seven."
they both
"Abraham and Abimelech"
Phicol
This is the name of a man. See how you translated this name in Genesis 21:22.
translationWords
Beersheba
oath
covenant
Abimelech
Philistines
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.