Joshua 19:6 — Word Study
WLCוּבֵ֥ית לְבָא֖וֹת וְשָֽׁרוּחֶ֑ן עָרִ֥ים שְׁלֹשׁ־ עֶשְׂרֵ֖ה וְחַצְרֵיהֶֽן׃
BSABeth-lebaothBêyth Lᵉbâʼôwth [house of lionesses, a place of fierce animals] and SharuhenShârûwchen△ [refuge of grace] thirteenshâlôwsh [three and ten] citiesʻîyr [towns with walls or watchmen] along with their villageschâtsêr [small settlements, courts]
| Greek | English | Parsing |
|---|---|---|
| וּבֵ֥ית | and Beth | Conjunction, noun proper |
| לְבָא֖וֹת | Lebaoth | Noun proper |
| וְשָֽׁרוּחֶ֑ן | and Sharuhen | Conjunction, noun proper |
| עָרִ֥ים | cities | Noun common, masculine plural absolute |
| שְׁלֹשׁ־ | thir- | Adj |
| עֶשְׂרֵ֖ה | teen | |
| וְחַצְרֵיהֶֽן׃ | and villages their | Conjunction, noun common masculine plural construct, suffix |
Every word in the verse. Click a row to open it in the panel on the left.
| BSB | Beth-lebaoth, and Sharuhen—thirteen cities, along with their villages. |
| KJV | And Beth-lebaoth, and Sharuhen; thirteen cities and their villages: |
| ASV | and Beth-lebaoth, and Sharuhen; thirteen cities with their villages: |
| YLT | and Beth-Lebaoth, and Sharuhen; thirteen cities and their villages. |
| WEB | Beth Lebaoth, and Sharuhen; thirteen cities with their villages; |
| BBE | And Beth-lebaoth and Sharuhen; thirteen towns with their unwalled places; |
Where they part company is וְחַצְרֵיהֶן — see How Translations Differ.
The verse has a main clause followed by an additional detail about the villages.
6 commentators on this verse
Gill, Jamieson, Poole, Ellicott & more — read them ›
clause
The sentence as the grammar sees it Open the tree ›
1 of 7 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 19:6
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 Cities of Simeongenerated
Joshua 19:6 lists the cities allotted to the tribe of Simeon, detailing their names and the total number of cities along with their villages. This allocation is part of the broader division of land among the tribes of Israel, as seen throughout the book of Joshua, where each tribe receives its inheritance in the Promised Land.
Cross References
| Reference | Text (BSB) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joshua 15:32 | Lebaoth, Shilhim, Ain, and Rimmon—twenty-nine cities in all, along with their villages. |
The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — 1 reference, hung on the phrase they belong to
The Key Word — בֵּית לְבָאוֹת, le.va.'otgenerated
The name בֵּית לְבָאוֹת (*Beth-lebaoth*) means 'house of lionesses.' It combines the word for 'house' בֵּית (*beit*) and a plural form of a word meaning 'lioness.' This suggests a place known for its fierce animals.
As a proper noun, it identifies a specific location within the territory of Simeon, indicating its significance as a city within the tribal allotment.
How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated
In the Berean Standard Bible, the verse uses cities and villages consistently, which is also reflected in the KJV and ASV.
Sentence Structuregenerated
The main clause is structured around the finite verb עָרִים, cities, which serves as the subject of the sentence. It is followed by a list of proper nouns denoting the cities, along with a numeral phrase indicating the total count.
The Hebrew word order places emphasis on the cities by listing them first, followed by the numeral and the additional detail of their villages.
Septuagint Backgroundgenerated
The Septuagint translates בֵּית לְבָאוֹת as Βαιθλεβαώθ, maintaining the original meaning of 'house of lionesses.' This shows a direct correspondence in the naming of the location.
For שָׁרוּחֶן, the LXX uses Σαρουχέν, which reflects a similar phonetic rendering, indicating that the translators aimed to preserve the names' sounds and meanings.
In plain words — the whole versegenerated
Joshua 19:6 lists two cities, בֵּית לְבָאוֹת (*Beth-lebaoth*) and שָׁרוּחֶן (*Sharuhen*), and states that there are thirteen cities in total, along with their villages. This is part of the inheritance given to the tribe of Simeon.
Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated
Beth-lebaoth means 'house of lionesses,' indicating a place known for fierce animals.
The verse mentions a total of thirteen cities.
Sharuhen, meaning 'refuge of grace,' is a city allotted to the tribe of Simeon.
The verse includes their villages, which are small settlements or courts surrounding the cities.
Reflection Questionsgenerated
- What does the name Beth-lebaoth suggest about the character of the area?
- How do the cities listed contribute to the identity of the tribe of Simeon?
- In what ways can we understand the significance of cities and villages in biblical times?
- How does the allocation of land among the tribes of Israel reflect God's promises?
Commentators on this verse — 6 expositors, verse by verse
Each of these wrote on Joshua 19:6 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.
John Gill1697–1771Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleAnd Bethlebaoth, and Sharuhen,.... Whether the first is the same with Lebaoth, a city of Judah, Joshua 15:32; and with the Bethleptepha of Josephus (b), and the Betholene of Pliny (c), is not
Read John Gill on Joshua 19 →Robert Jamieson1802–1880Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's CommentaryAnd Bethlebaoth, and Sharuhen; thirteen cities and their villages: Sharuhen , [Septuagint renders it hoi agroi autoon, probably reading sodiyhen] - their fields, as Reland ('Palaestina') conjectures.
Read Robert Jamieson on Joshua 19 →Matthew Poole1624–1679Matthew Poole's Commentary on the Holy BibleThirteen cities, or, towns, as some of them are called. . Nor are all Simeon’ s cities here numbered, for Etam is added, , unless that were built afterward.
Read Matthew Poole on Joshua 19 →Charles John Ellicott1819–1905Ellicott's Commentary for English ReadersXIX. OF SIMEON (Joshua 19:1-9). (1) Their inheritance was within the inheritance of the children of Judah.—The southern part of the inheritance of Judah was given up to Simeon. (See Judges 1:3; Judges 1:17.) In this fact a prophecy was fulfilled; for the effect of the allotment was to separate Simeon from the tribes with whom he had been united in the journey through the wilderness (viz., Reuben and Gad), who had cast off Simeon, and united themselves with the half tribe of Manasseh instead. Being also separated from Levi, Simeon was still further isolated: with the result that in the final separation of Israel and Judah, after Solomon’s death, the tribe of Simeon, though adhering to the…
Read Charles John Ellicott on Joshua 19 →AdamClarkeAdam Clarke's Commentary on the BibleVerse 6. Beth-lebaoth] The house or city of lionesses. Probably so called from the numbers of those animals which bred there.
Read AdamClarke on Joshua 19 →CambridgeThe Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges6. 12. Beth-lebaoth] contrasted with Lebaoth above, Joshua 15:32, is called Beth-birei in 1 Chronicles 4:31; 1 Chronicles 13. Sharuhen = Shilhim in Joshua 15:32 = Shaaraim, 1 Chronicles 4:31.
Read Cambridge on Joshua 19 →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
Beth-lebaoth, and Sharuhen—thirteen cities, along with their villages.
Beth Lebaoth, and Sharuhen; thirteen cities with their villages;
Beth-lebaoth, and Sharuhen—thirteen cities, along with their villages.
Beth Lebaoth, and Sharuhen – a total of thirteen cities and their towns,
Tyndale line
And Beth-lebaoth, and Sharuhen; thirteen cities and their villages:
and Beth-lebaoth, and Sharuhen; thirteen cities with their villages:
and Beth-lebaoth, and Sharuhen; thirteen cities with their villages:
And Beth-lebaoth, and Sheruhen; thirteen cities and their villages:
And Beth-lebaoth, and Sharuhen: thirteene cities with their villages.
Strictly literal
and Beth-lebaoth, and Sharuhen: thirteen cities and their hamlets;
and Beth-Lebaoth, and Sharuhen; thirteen cities and their villages.
and Beth-Lebaoth, and Sharuhen; thirteen cities and their villages.
And Beth-lebaoth, and Sharuchen: thirteen cities and their villages.
Beth Lebaoth, and Sharuhen. These were thirteen cities, including their villages.
From the Latin
And Bethlebaoth and Sarohen: thirteen cities, and their villages.
Simplified
Beth-lebaoth, and Sharuhen—thirteen towns with their associated villages.
And Beth-lebaoth and Sharuhen; thirteen towns with their unwalled places;
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 and the Septuagint agree on the majority of the words in this verse, with six out of seven words matched. The differences in word order and articles in the Septuagint reflect its unique syntactical structure rather than a variation in meaning.
וּבֵ֥ית לְבָא֖וֹת וְשָֽׁרוּחֶ֑ן עָרִ֥ים שְׁלֹשׁ־ עֶשְׂרֵ֖ה וְחַצְרֵיהֶֽן׃
6 of the 7 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 19:6
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.
H1034 בֵּית לְבָאוֹת
1034 Beyth Lba'owth bayth leb-aw-oth'
from 1004 and the plural of 3833; house of lionesses;
Beth-Lebaoth, a place in Palestine:--Beth-lebaoth. Compare
3822.
see HEBREW for 01004
see HEBREW for 03833
see HEBREW for 03822
בֵּית לְבָאוֹת (bet le.va.ot) — Beth-lebaoth.
§ Beth-lebaoth = "house of lionesses"
a place in Simeon
N-proper — Conjunction · noun properHC/Npl
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.
H1034 בֵּית לְבָאוֹת
1034 Beyth Lba'owth bayth leb-aw-oth'
from 1004 and the plural of 3833; house of lionesses;
Beth-Lebaoth, a place in Palestine:--Beth-lebaoth. Compare
3822.
see HEBREW for 01004
see HEBREW for 03833
see HEBREW for 03822
בֵּית לְבָאוֹת (bet le.va.ot) — Beth-lebaoth.
§ Beth-lebaoth = "house of lionesses"
a place in Simeon
HNpl — Noun properHNpl
(lionesses), a town which forms one of the last group of the cities of "the south" in the enumeration of the possessions of Judah, (Joshua 15:32) probably identical with Beth-lebaoth.
lividness
→ A city of the tribe of Simeon Jos 15:32
→ See BETH-LEBAOTH
שָׁרוּחֶ֑ן (Sharuwchen) refers to a location in Judah, specifically a city allotted to the tribe of Simeon. It is associated with the meaning 'refuge of grace' and is likely derived from terms related to dwelling and pleasure. The primary biblical reference is found in Joshua 19:6.
שָׁרוּחֶ֑ן n.pr.loc. in Simeon;—Jos 19:6
ref
H8287 שָׁרוּחֶ֑ן
8287 Sharuwchen shaw-roo-khen'
probably from 8281 (in the sense of dwelling (compare 8271)
and 2580; abode of pleasure; Sharuchen, a place in
Palestine:--Sharuhen.
see HEBREW for 08281
see HEBREW for 08271
see HEBREW for 02580
שָׁרוּחֶ֑ן (sha.ru.chen) — Sharuhen.
§ Sharuhen = "refuge of grace"
a city in Judah allotted to Simeon
Conj | N-proper — Conjunction · noun properHC/Npl
(refuge of grace), a town named in (Joshua 19:6) only among those which were in Jadah to Simeon. It is identified with Sheriah a large ruin in the south country, northwest of Beersheba.
→ A city in the territory of the tribe of Simeon Jos 19:6
The Hebrew word עִיר (*'iyr*) has meanings related to both excitement and city. It can denote excitement, particularly of terror or rage, as well as refer to a city or town, indicating a place that is guarded or inhabited. The entries suggest a broad application, from fortified cities to simple encampments. There is a specific mention of a man named Ir in 1 Chronicles 4:12.
עִיר n.[m.] excitement;—of terror; of rage
base
עִיר 1092 n.f. city, town
city, town, abode of men
of fortress in a city
appar. fortified place, of any size
base
H5892a עִיר excitement;—of terror; of rage H5892b עִיר city, town . city, town, abode of men
. of fortress in a city
. appar. fortified place, of any size
5892 `iyr eer
or (in the plural) par {awr}; or ayar (Judges 10:4)
{aw-yar'}; from 5782 a city (a place guarded by waking or a
watch) in the widest sense (even of a mere encampment or
post):--Ai (from margin), city, court (from margin), town.
see HEBREW for 05782
עִיר (ir) — excitement.
1) excitement, anguish
1a) of terror
עִיר (ir) — city.
1) city, town (a place of waking, guarded)
1a) city, town (a place of waking, guarded)
1a) city, town
עִיר (ir) — City (of On).
Combined with on (אֹן "On" H0204)
This name means city, town
Another name of on (אֹן "On" H0204)
עִיר (ir) — Ir-.
#A man of the tribe of Judah living at the time of Divided Monarchy, only mentioned at 1Ch.4.12;
son of: Tehinnah (H8468)
N-fp — Noun common · masculine plural absoluteHNcmpa
The earliest notice in Scripture of city-building is of Enoch by Cain, in the land of his exile. (Genesis 4:17) After the confusion of tongues the descendants of Nimrod founded Babel, Erech, Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar, and Asshur, a branch from the same stock, built Nineveh, Rehoboth-by-the-river, Calah and Resen, the last being "a great city." The earliest description of a city, properly so called, is that of Sodom, (Genesis 19:1-22) Even before the time of Abraham there were cities in Egypt, (Genesis 12:14,15; Numbers 13:22) and the Israelites, during their sojourn there, were employed in building or fortifying the "treasure cities" of Pithom and Raamses.…
The Hebrew word שָׁלֹשׁ (*shalosh*) means 'three' or 'triad.' It can also refer to the ordinal 'third' and is used in various contexts, including multiplication as 'thrice.' The entries consistently define it as a primitive number without significant disagreement.
שָׁלֹשׁ, שָׁלוֹשׁ, שְׁלֹשָׁה 430 n.m. et f. a three, triad
base
H7969 שָׁלֹשׁ, שָׁלוֹשׁ, שְׁלֹשָׁה a three, triad
7969 shalowsh shaw-loshe'
or shalosh {shaw-loshe'}; masculine shlowshah {shel-o-shaw'};
or shloshah {shel-o-shaw'}; a primitive number; three;
occasionally (ordinal) third, or (multipl.) thrice:--+ fork,
+ often(-times), third, thir(-teen, -teenth), three, + thrice.
Compare 7991.
see HEBREW for 07991
שָׁלֹשׁ (sha.losh) — three.
1) three, triad
1a) 3, 300, third
Aramaic equivalent: te.lat (תְּלָת "three" H8532)
Adj — AdjHAcbsc
עָשָׂר (asar) means 'ten' and is used exclusively in combination with other numbers to form the teen numbers (11-19), both as cardinal and ordinal forms. The entries indicate that it is derived from another Hebrew root, but do not elaborate on its etymology.
עָשָׂר, עֶשְׂרֵה ten, only after units to make num. 11-19, both cardinal and ordinal
base
H6240 עָשָׂר, עֶשְׂרֵה ten, only after units to make num. 11-19, both cardinal and ordinal
6240 `asar aw-sawr'
for 6235; ten (only in combination), i.e. -teen; also
(ordinal) -teenth:--(eigh-, fif-, four-, nine-, seven-,
six-, thir-)teen(-th), + eleven(-th), + sixscore thousand, +
twelve(-th).
see HEBREW for 06235
עָשָׂר (a.sar) — ten.
1) ten, -teen (in combination with other numbers)
1a) used only in combination to make the numbers 11-19
HAcbsa — HAcbsa
חָצֵר (chatser) refers to an enclosure or court, and can also mean a settled abode, settlement, or village, typically appearing in the plural form חֲצֵרִים. The word is derived from a root meaning to enclose, indicating spaces that are surrounded by walls or fences.
חָצֵר 145 n.m. and (oftener) f. enclosure, court
base
[חָצֵר] 46 n.m. settled abode, settlement, village—always pl. abs. חֲצֵרִים
base
H2691a חָצֵר n. m. and (oftener) f. enclosure, court H2691b חָצֵר settled abode, settlement, village—always pl. abs. חֲצֵרִים
2691 chatser khaw-tsare'
(masculine and feminine); from 2690 in its original sense; a
yard (as inclosed by a fence); also a hamlet (as similarly
surrounded with walls):--court, tower, village.
see HEBREW for 02690
חָצֵר (cha.tser) — court.
1) court, enclosure
1a) enclosures
1b) court
חָצֵר (cha.tser) — village.
settled abode, settlement, village, town
Conj | N-cp | Suff — Conjunction · noun common masculine plural construct · suffixHC/Ncmpc/Sp3fp