Tekoa
te.qo.a is a proper place name used for a settlement, its wilderness, and people or activity associated with it.
The attested forms are consistently Proper Nouns naming a place. The verses locate people as from it, identify a wilderness associated with it, list it among built places, and place actions there; the same name also occurs in genealogical descriptions of a “father of” it.
Senses in use
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Place named in locations and actions · dominant
In 2 Chronicles 11:6 the APB renders it in a list of places that “He built,” and in 2 Chronicles 20:20 it identifies “the wilderness of Tekoa.” In 2 Samuel 14:2 Joab sends there and takes a woman from there; Amos 1:1 describes Amos as among shepherds “from Tekoa”; and Jeremiah 6:1 places the blowing of a trumpet there.
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Place in genealogical designation · common
In 1 Chronicles 2:24 the APB calls Ashhur “the father of Tekoa,” and 1 Chronicles 4:5 repeats the same designation while naming his two women. These clauses use the proper name within a genealogical description rather than to locate an action.
In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB usually presents the name directly as “Tekoa,” including “from Tekoa,” “in Tekoa,” and “the wilderness of Tekoa.” In the genealogical verses it appears in “the father of Tekoa”; These phrases show the verse context rather than defining the term independently.