Wherefore he called that place Beersheba; because there they sware both of them.
Parallel translations
- WEB Therefore he called that place Beersheba, because they both swore there.
- BSB So that place was called Beersheba, because it was there that the two of them swore an oath.
- NKJV Therefore he called that place Beersheba, because the two of them swore an oath there.
- NASB Therefore he called that place Beersheba, because there the two of them took an oath.
- NLT Then he named the place Beersheba (which means “well of the oath”), because that was where they had sworn the oath.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The place is named Beersheba, meaning 'well of the oath,' because both men swore there. The name memorializes the covenant they made.
Overview
Beersheba commemorates the oath and the well at the heart of the agreement, a name and place significant throughout Israel's later history. The naming fixes the memory of God's faithfulness and the peace established under His blessing. Beersheba becomes a lasting marker of God's provision and the patriarchs' settled presence in the land of promise.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Gen 26:33And he called it Shebah: therefore the name of the city is Beersheba unto this day.
- Gen 21:14And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.
- Josh 15:28And Hazarshual, and Beersheba, and Bizjothjah,
- Gen 26:23And he went up from thence to Beersheba.
- 1 Kgs 4:25And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.
- Judg 20:1Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was gathered together as one man, from Dan even to Beersheba, with the land of Gilead, unto the LORD in Mizpeh.
- 2 Sam 17:11Therefore I counsel that all Israel be generally gathered unto thee, from Dan even to Beersheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude; and that thou go to battle in thine own person.
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Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 21:31 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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