Hebrew word · H1175
בְּעָלוֹת
uve'alot
Bealoth
This is a feminine plural of ba'alah. It can be read as 'ladies' or 'mistresses' (of a place), or as '(places of) the Baalat', the goddess title meaning 'Lady'. A different Bealoth appears in Asher in Solomon's district list (1 Kings 4:16, where the reading is uncertain).
Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
Baalath or Bealoth = "mistresses"
a town in south Judah
Another name of ba.a.lat be.er (בַּעֲלַת בְּאֵר "Baalath-beer" H1192)
Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).
In depth
From the study of Joshua 15:24
- Range of meaning
This is a feminine plural of ba'alah. It can be read as 'ladies' or 'mistresses' (of a place), or as '(places of) the Baalat', the goddess title meaning 'Lady'. A different Bealoth appears in Asher in Solomon's district list (1 Kings 4:16, where the reading is uncertain).
- Against the English
English transliterates 'Bealoth' and so hides the root's meaning. That is normal for place names and causes no real misreading.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Many place names in Canaan built on the b-'-l root keep the memory of older local cults: Baalah = Kiriath-jearim (Joshua 15:9), Baal-gad, and Baalath. Simeon's list has 'Baalath-beer, Ramah of the Negev' (Joshua 19:8; compare 'Baal' in 1 Chronicles 4:33), which is often taken to be the same town as this Bealoth. The site is unknown.
Where it appears
Joshua · 1
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Joshua 15:24 וּבְעָלֽוֹת׃ and Bealoth
Ziph, Telem, Bealoth,
Here: The prefix u- means 'and'. The name is a feminine plural from the root b-'-l, 'owner, lord, mistress', and it probably preserves an older place of worship for a Baal or his female partner, the Baalat. It may be the same town as Baalath-beer in Simeon's list (Joshua 19:8).
1 Kings · 1
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1 Kings 4:16 וּבְעָלֽוֹת׃ ס and Bealoth
Baana son of Hushai in Asher and in Aloth;
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.