🔼The names Kabzeel and Jekabzeel: Summary
- Meaning
- God Will Assemble Together, God's Gathering
- Etymology
- From (1) the verb קבץ (qabas), to gather or assemble, and (2) the word אל ('el), God.
🔼The names Kabzeel and Jekabzeel in the Bible
Kabzeel (קבצאל) is a village in Judah (Joshua 15:21), which is also known as Jekabzeel (יקבצאל — Nehemiah 11:25). In Hebrew the difference between the two is the letter י (yod), that's prefixed to the name Kabzeel to form Jekabzeel.
🔼Etymology of the names Kabzeel and Jekabzeel
Both these names are compounds of two elements. The latter part is אל, El, the abbreviated form of אלהים, Elohim, meaning God:
אל אלה
In names אל ('el) usually refers to אלהים ('elohim), that is Elohim, or God, also known as אלה ('eloah). In English, the words 'God' and 'god' exclusively refer to the deity but in Hebrew the words אל ('l) and אלה ('lh) are far more common and may express approach and negation, acts of wailing and pointing, and may even mean oak or terebinth.
The first part of these names comes from the verb קבץ (qabas), meaning to gather or assemble:
קבץ
The verb קבץ (qabas) means to gather or assemble. Noun קבוץ (qibbus), meaning assemblage (hence the modern word Kibbutz). Noun קבצה (qebusha) means gathering.
The prefixed letter י (yod, to form Jekabzeel) denotes the future form of the verb.
🔼Kabzeel and Jekabzeel meaning
Hence, says Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names, Jekabzeel means God Will Assemble Together and Kabzeel means What God Gathers Together. NOBSE reads God Will Gather for Jekabzeel and God's Gathering for Kabzeel.