Betah meaning

Meaning

Trust, Confidence

Etymology

From the noun בטח (betah), safety or security, from the verb בטח (batah), to trust or feel safe.

Related names

• Via בטח (batah): Tebah, Tibhath

The name Betah occurs only one time in the Bible. It's the name of a city in Aram, which king David conquered after the Arameans attempted to come to the rescue of king Hadadezer of Zobah. Samuel tells that David extracted a huge amount of bronze from the people of Betah and Berothai.

The Chronicler tells the same story, but calls these two bronze-supplying cities Tibhath and Cun (1 Chronicles 18:8). The Chronicler also adds that David's son Solomon would use this bronze to make his famous bronze laver, pillars and utensils for the temple.

Note that the names בטח (Betah) and טבחת (Tibhath) have their first three letters in common. Some scholars postulate that these two names are actually the same, and that the two first letters were reversed for some reason (and a letter ת added in the case of Tibhath). But whether this is actually true doesn't seem relevant. There's no similar connection between the names Cun and Berothai, and the relation between Betah and Tibhath is probably just a coincidence, or else a scribal prank with very little consequence.

The name Betah is equal to the noun בטח (betah), meaning safety or security, from the verb בטח (batah), meaning to trust or feel safe:

For a meaning of the name Betah, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads Trust, Confidence and Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names proposes Confidence, Security. BDB Theological Dictionary doesn't interpret our name but does confirm that it is identical to the noun בטח (betah).