Nehemiah 11:27 — Word Study
WLCוּבַחֲצַ֥ר שׁוּעָ֛ל וּבִבְאֵ֥ר שֶׁ֖בַע וּבְנֹתֶֽיהָ׃
BSAin Hazar-shualChătsar Shûwʻâl [jackal village, a town in southern Judah] in BeershebaBᵉʼêr Shebaʻ [well of the sevenfold oath, a city in Palestine] and its villagesbath [settlements, daughter-towns]
| Greek | English | Parsing |
|---|---|---|
| וּבַחֲצַ֥ר | and in Hazar | Conjunction, preposition, noun proper |
| שׁוּעָ֛ל | Shual | Noun proper |
| וּבִבְאֵ֥ר | and in Beer | Conjunction, preposition, noun proper |
| שֶׁ֖בַע | Sheba | Noun proper |
| וּבְנֹתֶֽיהָ׃ | and daughters its | Conjunction, noun common feminine plural construct, suffix |
Every word in the verse. Click a row to open it in the panel on the left.
| BSB | in Hazar-shual; in Beersheba and its villages; |
| KJV | And at Hazar-shual, and at Beer-sheba, and in the villages thereof, |
| ASV | and in Hazar-shual, and in Beer-sheba and the towns thereof, |
| YLT | and in Hazar-Shaul, and in Beer-Sheba and its small towns, |
| WEB | in Hazar Shual, in Beersheba and its towns, |
| BBE | And in Hazar-shual, and in Beer-sheba and its daughter-towns, |
Where they part company is in the details of the descriptions, but the names remain consistent across versions.
The verse consists of a main clause followed by two prepositional phrases, listing locations in a straightforward manner.
3 commentators on this verse
Jamieson, Cambridge, Whedon & more — read them ›
clause
The sentence as the grammar sees it Open the tree ›
Every word here is used elsewhere in the Old Testament.
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 — Nehemiah 11:27
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 Towns of Judahgenerated
Nehemiah 11:27 is part of a list detailing the towns and regions settled by the people of Judah after their return from exile. It highlights the importance of these locations in the rebuilding of their community and heritage.
Cross References
| Reference | Text (BSB) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joshua 15:28 | Hazar-shual, Beersheba, Biziothiah, |
| 2 | Joshua 19:3 | Hazar-shual, Balah, Ezem, |
| 3 | Genesis 21:31 | So that place was called Beersheba, because it was there that the two of them swore an oath. |
| 4 | Genesis 26:33 | So he called it Shibah, and to this day the name of the city is Beersheba. |
| 5 | Judges 20:1 | Then all the Israelites from Dan to Beersheba and from the land of Gilead came out, and the congregation assembled as one man before the LORD at Mizpah. |
The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — 5 references, hung on the phrase they belong to
The Key Word — חֲצַר שׁוּעָל, u.va.cha.Tzargenerated
The phrase חֲצַר שׁוּעָל (Hazar-shual) translates to 'jackal village'. It is a proper noun referring to a specific town in southern Judah, derived from roots meaning 'village' and 'fox'. The parsing indicates it is a noun proper, confirming its status as a place name.
This town is mentioned multiple times in the Hebrew Bible, indicating its significance in the region. The name suggests a connection to wildlife, possibly reflecting the area's natural surroundings.
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 main clause lists the locations: וּבַחֲצַ֥ר שׁוּעָל, and in Hazar-shual, followed by additional prepositional phrases that provide context about the locations. The structure emphasizes the enumeration of places.
Each location is introduced with a conjunction, highlighting the connection between them. The order of the towns reflects their geographical arrangement in the region.
Septuagint Backgroundgenerated
The Septuagint translates חֲצַר שׁוּעָל as Ἐν Χατζαράλ, which maintains the focus on the town's identity, though the Greek rendering lacks the descriptive meaning found in the Hebrew.
This choice indicates a straightforward transliteration rather than an interpretative translation, suggesting the translators aimed to preserve the original names without additional commentary.
In plain words — the whole versegenerated
Nehemiah 11:27 lists towns in Judah, specifically mentioning Hazar-shual and Beersheba, along with their villages. These places are important for understanding the geography and settlement patterns of the region after the exile.
Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated
Hazar-shual means 'jackal village' and refers to a town located in southern Judah.
Beersheba, meaning 'well of the sevenfold oath', is an important city in the Bible, located at the southern edge of Israel.
The villages refer to the smaller settlements or daughter-towns associated with Beersheba.
This verse is part of a list detailing the towns settled by the people of Judah after their return from exile.
Reflection Questionsgenerated
- What can we learn about the significance of place names in our understanding of biblical history?
- How do the locations mentioned in this verse reflect the cultural and geographical landscape of ancient Judah?
- In what ways do the names of towns like Hazar-shual and Beersheba contribute to our understanding of the Old Testament narrative?
- How can understanding the settlements in Judah help us appreciate the return of the exiles?
Commentators on this verse — 3 expositors, verse by verse
Each of these wrote on Nehemiah 11:27 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.
Robert Jamieson1802–1880Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's CommentaryAnd at Hazar-shual, and at Beersheba, and in the villages thereof, No JFB commentary on these verses.
Read Robert Jamieson on Nehemiah 11 →CambridgeThe Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges27. Hazar-shual] ‘Fox-town.’ Cf. Joshua 15:28. Beer-sheba] The well-known southern limit of Palestine.
Read Cambridge on Nehemiah 11 →Daniel Denison Whedon1808–1885Whedon's Commentary on the Bible26-35. On Moladah, see Joshua 15:26. Beer-sheba — Joshua 15:28.Ziklag — 1 Samuel 27:6. Jarmuth — Joshua 15:35. Lachish — Joshua 10:3. Valley of Hinnom — Joshua 15:8. Geba — Joshua 18:24. Michmash — 1 Samuel 13:2.
Read Daniel Denison Whedon on Nehemiah 11 →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
in Hazar-shual; in Beersheba and its villages;
in Hazar Shual, in Beersheba and its towns,
in Hazar-shual; in Beersheba and its villages;
in Hazar Shual, in Beer Sheba and its villages,
Tyndale line
And at Hazar-shual, and at Beer-sheba, and in the villages thereof,
and in Hazar-shual, and in Beer-sheba and the towns thereof,
and in Hazar-shual, and in Beer-sheba and the towns thereof;
And at Hazar-shual, and at Beer-sheba, and in its villages,
And in Hazer-shual, and in Beer-sheba, and in the villages thereof,
Strictly literal
and in Hazar-Shual, and in Beer-sheba and its dependent villages,
and in Hazar-Shaul, and in Beer-Sheba and its small towns,
and in Hazar-Shaul, and in Beer-Sheba and its small towns,
And at Chazar-shu'al, and at Beer-sheba' and in its villages,
Hazar Shual, and Beersheba and its villages.
From the Latin
And at Hasersual, and at Bersabee, and in the villages thereof,
Simplified
in Hazar-shual, in Beersheba with its settlements,
And in Hazar-shual, and in Beer-sheba and its daughter-towns,
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 show a significant alignment in the mention of חֲצַר שׁוּעָל and בְּאֵר שֶׁ֫בַע. However, the Septuagint does not fully match the Hebrew text, indicating possible omissions or differences in the translation process.
וּבַחֲצַ֥ר שׁוּעָ֛ל וּבִבְאֵ֥ר שֶׁ֖בַע וּבְנֹתֶֽיהָ׃
1 of the 5 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 Nehemiah 11:27
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.
חֲצַר שׁוּעָל n.pr.loc.
place in southern Judah
place in Simeon
base
H2705 חֲצַר שׁוּעָל
2705 Chatsar Shuw`al khats-ar' shoo-awl'
from 2691 and 7776; village of (the) fox; Chatsar-Shual, a
place in Palestine:--Hazar-shual.
see HEBREW for 02691
see HEBREW for 07776
חֲצַר שׁוּעָל (cha.tsar shu.al) — Hazar-shual.
§ Hazar-shual = "jackal village"
a town in southern Judah
N-proper — Conjunction · preposition · noun properHC/R/Npl
ha'-zar (chatsar, construct of chatser, "an enclosure," "settlement," or "village"): Is frequently the first element in Hebrew place-names.
1. Hazar-addar:
Hazar-addar (Hebrew chatsar 'addar), a place on the southern boundary of Judah (Nu 34:4), is probably identical with Hazron (Jos 15:3), which, in this case, however, is separated from Addar (the King James Version "Adar"). It seems to have lain somewhere to the Southwest of Kadesh-barnea.
חֲצַר שׁוּעָל n.pr.loc.
place in southern Judah
place in Simeon
base
H2705 חֲצַר שׁוּעָל
2705 Chatsar Shuw`al khats-ar' shoo-awl'
from 2691 and 7776; village of (the) fox; Chatsar-Shual, a
place in Palestine:--Hazar-shual.
see HEBREW for 02691
see HEBREW for 07776
חֲצַר שׁוּעָל (cha.tsar shu.al) — Hazar-shual.
§ Hazar-shual = "jackal village"
a town in southern Judah
HNpl — Noun properHNpl
shoo'-al (shu`al): An Asherite (1Ch 7:36).
(a jackal), son of Zophah, an Asherite. (1 Chronicles 7:36) (B.C. after 1445.)
fox; path; first
בְּאֵר שֶׁ֫בַע (B'er Sheba) refers to Beersheba, a location in Palestine. The name means 'well of an oath,' derived from the roots for 'well' and 'oath.' It is noted as a city at the southern edge of Israel.
בְּאֵר שֶׁ֫בַע n.pr.loc. Beersheba
base
H884 בְּאֵר שֶׁ֫בַע Beersheba
884 B'er Sheba` be-ayr' sheh'-bah
from 875 and 7651 (in the sense of 7650); well of an oath;
Beer-Sheba, a place in Palestine:--Beer-shebah.
see HEBREW for 0875
see HEBREW for 07651
see HEBREW for 07650
בְּאֵר שֶׁ֫בַע (be.er she.va) — Beersheba.
§ Beer-sheba = "well of the sevenfold oath"
a city at the south edge of Israel
Adj — Conjunction · preposition · noun properHC/R/Npl
be'-er (be'er; phrear; Latin puteus = "well"):
(1) A station on the march of the Israelites to the North of the Arnon (Nu 21:16). Here it was that they sang round the well this song: `Spring up O well; greet it with song, Well, that the princes have dug, The nobles of the people have bored, With the scepter--with their staves' (Nu 21:16 ff). The place is not identified.
(2) The town to which Jotham fled from his brother Abimelech after declaring his parable from Mt. Gerizim (Jud 9:21). This may be identical with BEEROTH, which see.
Beer
Well. (1.) A place where a well was dug by the direction of Moses, at the forty-fourth station of the Hebrews in their wanderings (Num. 21:16-18) in the wilderness of Moab. (See WELL.)
(2.) A town in the tribe of Judah to which Jotham fled for fear of Abimelech (Judg. 9:21). Some have identified this place with Beeroth.
(a well). One of the latest halting-places of the Israelites, lying beyond the Arnon. (Numbers 21:16-18) This is possibly the BEER-ELIM of (Isaiah 15:8) A place to which Jotham, the son of Gideon, fled for fear of his brother Abimelech. (Judges 9:21)
A well,
1. A station of the Hebrews in Moab, where God gave them water, Nu 21:16-18; Isa 15:8.
2. A town in Judah, according to Eusebius and Jerome a few miles west of Jerusalem, near Beth-shemesh. Jotham took refuge there from his brother Abimelech, Jud 9:21.
בְּאֵר שֶׁ֫בַע (B'er Sheba) refers to Beersheba, a location in Palestine. The name means 'well of an oath,' derived from the roots for 'well' and 'oath.' It is noted as a city at the southern edge of Israel.
בְּאֵר שֶׁ֫בַע n.pr.loc. Beersheba
base
H884 בְּאֵר שֶׁ֫בַע Beersheba
884 B'er Sheba` be-ayr' sheh'-bah
from 875 and 7651 (in the sense of 7650); well of an oath;
Beer-Sheba, a place in Palestine:--Beer-shebah.
see HEBREW for 0875
see HEBREW for 07651
see HEBREW for 07650
בְּאֵר שֶׁ֫בַע (be.er she.va) — Beersheba.
§ Beer-sheba = "well of the sevenfold oath"
a city at the south edge of Israel
HNpl — Noun properHNpl
Sheba
An oath, seven. (1.) Heb. shebha, the son of Raamah (Gen. 10:7), whose descendants settled with those of Dedan on the Persian Gulf.
(2.) Heb. id. A son of Joktan (Gen. 10:28), probably the founder of the Sabeans.
(3.) Heb. id. A son of Jokshan, who was a son of Abraham by Keturah (Gen. 25:3).
(4.) Heb. id. A kingdom in Arabia Felix. Sheba, in fact, was Saba in Southern Arabia, the Sabaeans of classical geography, who carried on the trade in spices with the other peoples of the ancient world. They were Semites, speaking one of the two main dialects of Himyaritic or South Arabic. Sheba had become a monarchy before the days of Solomon. Its queen brought him gold, spices, and precious stones (
one of the towns of the allotment of Simeon, (Joshua 19:2) probably the same as Shema. (Joshua 15:26)
1. Son of Raamah, Ge 10:7. His posterity is supposed to have settled near the head of the Persian Gulf. See CUSH and RAAMAH.
2. Son of Joktan, of the race of Shem, Ge 10:28. See SABEANS 2.
3. Son of Jokshan, and grandson of Abraham by Keturah, Ge 25:3. He is supposed to have settled in Arabia Deserta.
4. A turbulent Benjamite, who after the death of Absalom made a fruitless effort to excite a rebellion in Israel against David. Being pursued, and besieged in Abel-beth-maachah, near the southern part of Lebanon, he was beheaded by the people of the city, 2Sa 20:1-26.
captivity; old man; repose; oath
בַּת (bat) means 'daughter' and encompasses a range of meanings including female child, young women, and even personifications of cities or inhabitants. It can also refer to villages in certain contexts. The word is derived from a root meaning 'to build' and is used in various figurative senses, such as 'branch' or 'apple of the eye.'
בַּת 587 n.f. daughter
daughter, female child
young women, women
with name of city, land, or people, poet. personif. of that city or inhabitants
pl. = villages, after name of city
in phrases denoting character, quality, etc.
ostrich
fig.
of vine = branch
as n. relat.
base
H1323 בַּת daughter . daughter, female child
. young women, women
. with name of city, land, or people, poet. personif. of that city or inhabitants
. pl. = villages, after name of city
. in phrases denoting character, quality, etc.
. ostrich
. fig.
. of vine = branch
. as n. relat.
1323 bath bath
from 1129 (as feminine of 1121); a daughter (used in the same
wide sense as other terms of relationship, literally and
figuratively):--apple (of the eye), branch, company, daughter,
X first, X old, + owl, town, village.
see HEBREW for 01129
see HEBREW for 01121
בַּת (bat) — daughter.
: daughter
1) daughter
1a) daughter, girl, adopted daughter, daughter-in-law, sister, granddaughters, female child, cousin
1a1) as polite address
1a2) as designation of women of a particular place
2) young women, women
1a3) as personification
1a4) daughter-villages
1a5) description of character
Also means: bat (בַּת ": village" H1323H)
בַּת (bat) — daughter: village.
: village
1) daughter
1a) daughter, girl, adopted daughter, daughter-in-law, sister, granddaughters, female child, cousin
1a1) as polite address
1a2) as designation of women of a particular place
2) young women, women
1a3) as personification
1a4) daughter-villages
1a5) description of character
בַּת (bat) — Bath (Shua).
A woman living at the time of the Patriarchs, first mentioned at Gen.38.2;
daughter of: Shua (H7770); married to Judah (H3063);
mother of: Er (H6147), Onan (H0209) and Shelah (H7956)
Conj | N-fp | Suff — Conjunction · noun common feminine plural construct · suffixHC/Ncfpc/Sp3fs