בַּת־שׁוּעַ

𐤁𐤕־𐤔𐤅𐤏

Shua

H1340 noun

SILEX Entry

Root בת-שוע daughter (of), (proper name)

Definition

Personal name: Bath-shua. Properly, 'Bath-shua' designates a woman introduced as the daughter of Shua in the narrative of Judah and his sons (Genesis 38). The name itself most likely means 'daughter of Shua,' where 'Shua' is a personal name rather than an abstract noun. In some later textual traditions, the name is used as a variant or alternate for 'Bathsheba,' but in the Genesis context it refers to a different individual.

Semantic Range

personal name, specifically a patronymic meaning 'daughter of Shua'; alternate form for Bathsheba in some post-monarchic/genealogical texts; not a common noun or abstract term

Root / Etymology

The word consists of two elements: בַּת (bat, 'daughter') and שׁוּעַ (Shua, a personal name), thus 'daughter of Shua.' The root for 'bat' is בת ('to build, daughter'), and 'Shua' (שׁוּעַ) is likely a theophoric or personal name. There is no direct evidence that 'Shua' means 'wealth'; its meaning as a name is uncertain. There is a later tendency to associate בַּת־שׁוּעַ with meanings like 'daughter of opulence' due to folk etymology, but in context, it is a patronymic.

Historical & Contextual Notes

In Genesis 38, Bath-shua is identified as the daughter of Shua, a Canaanite who becomes Judah's wife, making her the mother of Er, Onan, and Shelah. The use of the name in 1 Chronicles 3:5 as a variant of Bathsheba (wife of David, mother of Solomon) likely arises from textual confusion or conflation in later periods—these are not the same person in the narrative context. English translations sometimes obscure this by equating Bath-shua and Bathsheba; however, the Hebrew distinguishes them in the original stories. The name itself is typical of patronymic constructions in ancient Israelite nomenclature, where 'daughter of X' denotes lineage. The term does not carry theological or socioeconomic significance in the Genesis context. Later rabbinic and translation traditions sometimes speculate about the meaning of 'Shua,' but no firm etymological link to 'wealth' exists in the Hebrew Bible.

Original Strong's Gloss (1890)

from בַּת and שׁוֹעַ; daughter of wealth; the same as בַּת־שֶׁבַע; Bath-shua,; Bath-shua.

Bantu Hebrew

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Root Family

בנה (b-n-h) — to build, to create, to establish descendants

Strong's Lemma SIBI-P1
H1004 בַּיִת in the houses
H1005 בַּיִת the built-house
H1006 בַּיִת the house
H1007 בֵּית אָוֶן house-of
H1008 בֵּית־אֵל in house of

Word Forms

2 distinct forms

SIDANCE Surface Transliteration Morphology Common SIBI-P1 Occurrences
H1340-01 לְ/בַת levat HR/Np to-Bath to a daughter of 1
H1340-02 שׁ֖וּעַ shua HNp shua My King Is Deliverance 1

Occurrences in Scripture

2 total occurrences

SIDANCE Reference Word Transliteration Morphology Common SIBI-P1
H1340-01 1 Chronicles 3:5 לְ/בַת levat HR/Np to-Bath to a daughter of
H1340-02 1 Chronicles 3:5 שׁ֖וּעַ shua HNp shua My King Is Deliverance