Hebrew word · H984
בֶּ֫טַח
umibetach
Betah
A place name found only here. Spelled as it stands, the consonants match the Hebrew word beṭaḥ, 'security, trust', but that is probably an accident of copying.
Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
§ Betah = "security"
the capital of Zobah during the reign of Hadadezer
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 2 Samuel 8:8
- Range of meaning
A place name found only here. Spelled as it stands, the consonants match the Hebrew word beṭaḥ, 'security, trust', but that is probably an accident of copying.
- Against the English
KJV, BSB, WEB, YLT and ESV keep 'Betah'. NIV and some others print 'Tebah', following 1 Chronicles 18:8 (Tibhath) and Genesis 22:24.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Genesis 22:24 names Tebah as a son of Nahor by his concubine, an Aramean clan name. Egyptian records and the Amarna letters (14th century BC) mention a Syrian town Tubihi/Dubihu in the Lebanon-Beqaa area. The Greek 'Masbak' seems to reflect 'from-Tebah' with the preposition run into the name.
Where it appears
2 Samuel · 1
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2 Samuel 8:8 וּמִבֶּ֥טַח and from Betah
And from Betah and Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, King David took a large amount of bronze.
Here: An Aramean town of Hadadezer, probably to be read 'Tebah'. The verse opens with this place instead of with a verb, which puts the stress on where the plunder came from.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.