Joshua 15:58 — Word Study
WLCחַלְח֥וּל בֵּֽית־ צ֖וּר וּגְדֽוֹר׃
BSAHalhulChalchûwl△ [a town of trembling] Beth-zurBêyth Tsûwr [house of the rock] GedorGᵉdôr [a place of wall or enclosure]
| Greek | English | Parsing |
|---|---|---|
| חַלְח֥וּל | Halhul | Noun proper |
| בֵּֽית־ | Beth | Noun proper |
| צ֖וּר | Zur | Noun proper |
| וּגְדֽוֹר׃ | and Gedor | Conjunction, noun proper |
Every word in the verse. Click a row to open it in the panel on the left.
| BSB | Halhul, Beth-zur, Gedor, |
| KJV | Halhul, Beth-zur, and Gedor, |
| ASV | Halhul, Beth-zur, and Gedor, |
| YLT | Halhul, Beth-Zur, and Gedor, |
| WEB | Halhul, Beth Zur, Gedor, |
| BBE | Halhul, Beth-zur, and Gedor; |
Where they part company is in the additional context provided by some versions.
The verse consists of a simple list of towns, reflecting a straightforward structure.
5 commentators on this verse
Gill, Jamieson, AdamClarke, Cambridge & more — read them ›
clause
The sentence as the grammar sees it Open the tree ›
1 of 4 occurs nowhere else in the Old Testament — a word chosen on purpose.
Bars are logarithmic — אֵת, the commonest word in the Hebrew Bible, stands about 11,000 times, so a linear scale would leave everything else invisible. Click a row to open that word.
Deep Study — Joshua 15:58
Sections marked generated are written from the data on this page rather than by a named author. Everything else — the lexicon entries, the cross references, the manuscript readings, the counts — is quoted from its source unchanged.
Context — The Allotment of Judahgenerated
Joshua 15:58 lists Halhul, Beth-zur, and Gedor as part of the cities allotted to the tribe of Judah. This section of Joshua details the boundaries and cities within the tribal territories, highlighting the importance of these locations in the historical context of Israel's settlement in the Promised Land.
Cross References
| Reference | Text (BSB) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 Chronicles 4:39 | and they journeyed to the entrance of Gedor, to the east side of the valley, in search of pasture for their flocks. |
The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — 1 reference, hung on the phrase they belong to
The Key Word — חַלְחוּל, chal.Chulgenerated
The name חַלְחוּל (Chalchul) refers to a town in Judah, derived from a root meaning 'trembling.' This name suggests a geographical feature or perhaps a historical event associated with the town, indicating it was located on a hill along the road from Jerusalem to Hebron.
Halhul is a noun proper, indicating a specific place. Its singular occurrence in the text emphasizes its unique identity within the context of Judah's cities.
How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated
This study reads the verse in the Berean Standard Bible, so the BSB is the wording every comparison below is made against.
Sentence Structuregenerated
The structure of the verse is straightforward, consisting of a list of three noun phrases: חַלְחוּל, בֵּית־צ֖וּר, and גְּדוֹר. Each name stands as a proper noun, indicating specific locations within the territory of Judah.
The simplicity of the structure reflects the nature of the text, which is a catalog of cities rather than a narrative or complex sentence.
Septuagint Backgroundgenerated
The Septuagint translates חַלְחוּל as αλουα, which does not carry the same meaning as the Hebrew. This choice suggests a shift in focus from the original meaning of 'trembling' to a more neutral term in Greek.
For גְּדוֹר, the translation is γεδδων, which aligns closely with the Hebrew meaning of 'wall,' maintaining the connection to the concept of enclosure.
In plain words — the whole versegenerated
Joshua 15:58 lists three towns in Judah: Halhul, which means 'trembling'; Beth-zur, meaning 'house of the rock'; and Gedor, which refers to a place of wall or enclosure. These towns reflect the landscape and settlement patterns of ancient Israel.
Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated
Halhul means 'trembling,' Beth-zur means 'house of the rock,' and Gedor means 'a place of wall or enclosure,' reflecting their geographical features or historical significance.
These towns are part of the tribal allotments in Judah, highlighting the settlement of the Israelites in the Promised Land and their connection to the land.
This verse is part of the detailed account of the division of the land among the tribes of Israel, emphasizing the fulfillment of God's promise to give them a homeland.
Yes, Gedor is also the name of three individuals from the tribe of Benjamin, as mentioned in 1 Chronicles 8:31.
Reflection Questionsgenerated
- What significance do the names of places have in understanding the history of Israel?
- How can the geographical features of these towns reflect the culture and lifestyle of the people who lived there?
- In what ways do the allotments of land in Joshua illustrate God's promises to His people?
- How does understanding the context of these towns enhance your reading of the biblical narrative?
Commentators on this verse — 5 expositors, verse by verse
Each of these wrote on Joshua 15:58 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.
John Gill1697–1771Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleHalhul,.... Here begins a fourth division, or list, of the cities in the mountains.
Read John Gill on Joshua 15 →Robert Jamieson1802–1880Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's CommentaryHalhul, Bethzur, and Gedor, Halhul , [Septuagint, Ailoua; Alexandrian, Aloul] - a little village, now Hulhul. Jerome placed it near Hebron ('Onomast.,' article 'Elul:' cf. Robinson's 'Biblical Researches,' 1:, p.
Read Robert Jamieson on Joshua 15 →AdamClarkeAdam Clarke's Commentary on the BibleVerse 58. Gedor] See Clarke on Joshua 12:13. In this place the Alexandrian MS. of the Septuagint and the Codex Vaticanus add the eleven following towns: Theca, and Ephratha, (that is, Bethlehem,) and Phagor, and Etan, and Kulon, and Tatam, and Thebes, and Karam, and Galam, and Thether, and Manocho; eleven cities and their villages. St. Jerome, on Micah 5:1, mentions them, so that we find they were in the copies he used. Dr. Kennicott contends that they should be restored to the text, and accounts thus for their omission: "The same word וחצרויהן vechatsreyhen, and their villages. occurring immediately before this passage and at the end of it, the transcriber's eye passed from one to the…
Read AdamClarke on Joshua 15 →CambridgeThe Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges58. Halhul] Group IV. consists of six cities on the north of Hebron:—
Read Cambridge on Joshua 15 →Daniel Denison Whedon1808–1885Whedon's Commentary on the Bible58. Halhul still retains its name, and is found four miles north of Hebron.
Read Daniel Denison Whedon on Joshua 15 →The verse in English, compared — 17 translations, and where they part company
Every translation on this page is a decision someone had to make and commit to. Read down a column and you see one translator's judgement; read across a row and you see the range the Greek actually allows. The BSB is the wording the rest of this page is measured against, so it is listed first.
Modern formal
Halhul, Beth-zur, Gedor,
Halhul, Beth Zur, Gedor,
Halhul, Beth-zur, Gedor,
Halhul, Beth Zur, Gedor,
Tyndale line
Halhul, Beth-zur, and Gedor,
Halhul, Beth-zur, and Gedor,
Halhul, Beth-zur, and Gedor;
Halhul, Beth-zur, and Gedor,
Halhul, Beth-zur, and Gedor,
Strictly literal
Halhul, Beth-Zur, and Gedor,
Halhul, Beth-Zur, and Gedor,
Halhul, Beth-Zur, and Gedor,
Chatchul, Beth-zur, and Gedor,
Halhul, Beth Zur, Gedor,
From the Latin
Halhul, and Bessur, and Gedor,
Simplified
Also: Halhul, Beth-zur, Gedor,
Halhul, Beth-zur, and Gedor;
Counted from the translations carried on this site, not from a survey of every English Bible. A rendering shared by many versions is usually inherited rather than independently arrived at — the Tyndale line in particular runs through most of them.
The sentence as the grammar sees it — from the MACULA Hebrew treebank
This is not our own analysis: it is the scholarly syntax tree for the verse, showing how the clause actually holds together.
Boxes are the grammarian's groupings — clause, noun phrase, prepositional phrase.
The four witnesses to this verse — Masoretic, Septuagint, Samaritan, Qumran
The Masoretic Text lists the names as חַלְחוּל בֵּֽית־ צ֖וּר וּגְדֽוֹר׃. The Septuagint matches two of the four words, but its word order and specific articles differ, indicating a variation in how the text was understood in the Greek tradition.
חַלְח֥וּל בֵּֽית־ צ֖וּר וּגְדֽוֹר׃
2 of the 4 words are matched. This is the word-by-word correspondence, not the Septuagint's own sentence — its word order and its articles are its own.
Four traditions, not one. “On the leather” means the letters physically survive on the scroll, as against letters an editor has supplied to fill a hole in it — a restoration is a scholar’s reading, not a reading of the manuscript. Words in [square brackets] are supplied; the notes count them apart from what survives.
The map of this verse — what each word keeps company with
This is a map of two things, both counted rather than judged. Company kept: which words stand within three words of each of these, anywhere in the Hebrew Bible — the thicker the line, the more often the pair meet compared with chance. Built from: the words a word is made out of, taken from its own Strong’s entry. It is not a map of meaning: nothing here claims two words mean the same thing. Click any circle to see the numbers behind it.
Lexicons — every word in Joshua 15:58
One dossier per word, with every reference work grouped by kind — Hebrew lexicons, morphology, Bible dictionaries, topical chains and the English of the translators themselves. The verse sits at the head of each block with the word under study lit, so you never lose your place. The panel above gives the short answer; this is the long one, and it is the part of the page worth indexing.
Every entry below is the lexicographer's own text. On the Hebrew: Brown-Driver-Briggs entire and its gloss set, Strong's Hebrew Dictionary, and Tyndale House's Translators Brief lexicon. Where a cell says a work has no entry, that work genuinely has none for this word.
חַלְחוּל (Chalchuwl) refers to a town in Judah, mentioned in Joshua 15:58. The name is derived from the root meaning 'contorted' and is associated with the idea of 'trembling.' It is located on a hill along the road from Jerusalem to Hebron.
חַלְחוּל n.pr.loc. town in Judah, Jos 15:58
ref
H2478 חַלְחוּל
2478 Chalchuwl khal-khool'
by reduplication from 2342; contorted; Chalchul, a place in
Palestine:--Halhul.
see HEBREW for 02342
חַלְחוּל (chal.chul) — Halhul.
§ Halhul = "trembling"
a town on a hill in the mountains of Judah to the left of the road from Jerusalem to Hebron and about 3-4 (5-7 km) miles from Hebron
N-proper — Noun properHNpl
hal'-hul (chalchul): A city in the hill country of Judah (Jos 15:58), "Halhul, Beth-zur and Gedor." It is without doubt the modern Chalchul, a village on a hill, surrounded by fine fields and vineyards, some 4 miles North of Hebron and less than a mile to the East of the modern carriage road. It is conspicuous from a considerable distance on account of its ancient mosque, Wely Nebi Yulnas, the "shrine of the Prophet Jonah"--a tradition going back at least to the 14th century. The mosque, which has a minaret or tower, is built upon a rock platform artificially leveled. In the 14th century it was stated by Isaac Chilo (a Jewish pilgrim) that the tomb of Gad the Seer (1Sa 22:5; 2Sa 24:11 f) was situated in this town. Beth-zur…
Halhul
Full of hollows, a town in the highlands of Judah (Josh. 15:58). It is now a small village of the same name, and is situated about 5 miles north-east of Hebron on the way to Jerusalem. There is an old Jewish tradition that Gad, David’s seer (2 Sam. 24:11), was buried here.
(trembling), a town of Judah in the mountain district. (Joshua 16:68) The name still remains unaltered attached to a conspicuous hill a mile to the left of the road from Jerusalem to Hebron, between three and four miles from the latter.
grief; looking for grief
בֵּית־צוּר n.pr.loc. in Judah (house of rock)
base
H1049 בֵּית־צוּר
1049 Beyth Tsuwr bayth tsoor'
from 1004 and 6697; house of (the) rock; Beth-Tsur, a place
in Palestine:--Beth-zur.
see HEBREW for 01004
see HEBREW for 06697
בֵּית־צוּר (bet tsur) — Beth-zur.
§ Beth-zur = "house of the rock"
a place in Judah
N-proper — Noun properHNpl
Beth
Occurs frequently as the appellation for a house, or dwelling-place, in such compounds as the words immediately following:
the most general word for a house or habitation. It has the special meaning of a temple or house of worship Beth is more frequently employed in compound names of places than any other word.
House, forms a part of many compounds names of places, and sometimes means the place or dwelling; and at others the temple. This word becomes Beit in modern Arabic.
בֵּית־צוּר n.pr.loc. in Judah (house of rock)
base
H1049 בֵּית־צוּר
1049 Beyth Tsuwr bayth tsoor'
from 1004 and 6697; house of (the) rock; Beth-Tsur, a place
in Palestine:--Beth-zur.
see HEBREW for 01004
see HEBREW for 06697
בֵּית־צוּר (bet tsur) — Beth-zur.
§ Beth-zur = "house of the rock"
a place in Judah
HNpl — Noun properHNpl
zur (tsur "rock"):
(1) A prince or chief (Nu 25:15; 31:8) of Midian, father of the woman slain with Zimri by Phinehas. Jos 13:21 describes him as one of the princes of Sihon, but the reference there is regarded as a gloss.
(2) An inhabitant of Gibeon (1Ch 8:30; 9:36), to be connected probably, according to Curtis, with "Zeror" of 1Sa 9:1.
Zur
Rock. (1.) One of the five Midianite kings whom the Israelites defeated and put to death (Num. 31:8).
(2.) A Benjamite (1 Chr. 8:30).
(a rock). Father of Cozbi, (Numbers 25:15) and one of the five princes of Midian who were slain by the Israelites when Balaam fell. (Numbers 31:8) (B.C. 1451.) Son of Jehiel, the founder of Gideon. (1 Chronicles 8:30; 9:36), (B.C. after 1445.)
A Midianitish prince, whose daughter was slain by Phinehas, Nu 25:15-18, and who was himself subsequently slain in war with the Israelites, Jos 13:21.
גְּדוֹר (Gdor) means "wall" and refers to a town in the mountainous region of Judah, located a few miles north of Hebron. It is also the name of three individuals from the tribe of Benjamin. The word is derived from a root meaning "inclosure" and is associated with the biblical context of Gedor as a place and a personal name.
גְּדוֹר, גְּדֹר n.pr. (wall)
n.pr.loc. city of Judah
n.pr.loc. but read Gerar
n.pr.m. a Benjamite, of Gibeon
base
H1446 גְּדוֹר, גְּדֹר, גְדֹר
1446 Gdor ghed-ore'
or (fully) Gdowr {ghed-ore'}; from 1443; inclosure; Gedor, a
place in Palestine; also the name of three Israelites:--Gedor.
see HEBREW for 01443
גְּדוֹר (ge.dor) — Gedor.
Gedor = "wall"
a town in the mountainous part of Judah a few miles north of Hebron
Also named: ge.der (גֶּ֫דֶר "Geder" H1445)
גְּדוֹר (ge.dor) — Gedor.
§ Gedor = "wall"
a town
גְּדוֹר (ge.dor) — Gedor.
A man of the tribe of Benjamin living at the time of United Monarchy, first mentioned at 1Ch.8.31;
son of: Abiel (H0022) and Maacah (H4601N);
brother of: Kish (H7027), Ner (H5369), Abdon (H5658J), Zur (H6698I), Baal (H1168B), Nadab (H5070J), Ahio (H0283I), Zecher (H2144) and Mikloth (H4732)
§ Gedor = "wall"
1) a son of Penuel
2) a son of Jered
3) a Benjamite of Gibeon
4) a town in the mountainous part of Judah a few miles north of Hebron
Conj | N-proper — Conjunction · noun properHC/Npl
ge'-dor (gedhor; Codex Vaticanus, Geddor, Codex Alexandrinus, Gedor):
(1) A town in the mountains of Judah, named with Halhul and Beth-zur (Jos 15:58). It seems to be referred to by Eusebius as Gadeira (Onomasticon, under the word), which he identifies with Gaidora (Jerome calls it Gadora), a village in the borders of Jerusalem, near the terebinth. It is probably represented today by Khirbet Jedur, about 7 miles North of Hebron (PEF, III, 313, Sh XXI).
(2) Among the Benjamites who joined David at Ziklag were the sons of Jeroham of Gedor (1Ch 12:7). No trace of this name is found in the territory of Benjamin. It may be identical with (1).
(3) The Simeonites are said to have gone to the entering in of Gedor in search of pasture for their flocks. They smote and expelled the Meunim…
Gedor
A wall. (1.) A city in the mountains or hill country of Judah (Josh. 15:58), identified with Jedar, between Jerusalem and Hebron.
(2.) 1 Chr. 4:39, the Gederah of Josh. 15:36, or the well-known Gerar, as the LXX. read, where the patriarchs of old had sojourned and fed their flocks (Gen. 20:1, 14, 15; 26:1, 6, 14).
(3.) A town apparently in Benjamin (1 Chr. 12:7), the same probably as Geder (Josh. 12:13).
(a wall), a town int he mountainous part of Judah, (Joshua 15:58) a few miles north of Hebron. Robinson discovered a Jedur halfway between Bethlehem and Hebron, about two miles west of the road.