What Does Deuteronomy 2:23 Mean?
And the Avim who settled in Hazerim, even to Azzah, the Caphtorim, who came forth out of Caphtor, destroyed them, and settled in their place.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And the Avims which dwelt in Hazerim, even unto Azzah, the Caphtorims, which came forth out of Caphtor, destroyed them, and dwelt in their stead.)THE KEY
The same word for dwelling names both peoples, while the destruction between them makes the transfer violent.
THE MEANING
The verse holds settlement and violence together: the Avims dwell as far as Azzah, and the Caphtorim destroy them before dwelling in their place. The newcomers’ settlement remains inseparable from the people whose destruction makes it possible. “In their stead” keeps the displaced people visible inside the account of who dwells there.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A new settlement need not mean an empty place; here, “in their stead” names a place occupied by people whose destruction precedes the newcomers.
THE ROOT
וַיֵּשְׁבוּ
vayeshvu
GROWS FROM
ישב
To sit, remain, dwell, or settle.
“settled” in this verse is vayeshvu. The same root first describes the Avims as dwellers there, then describes the Caphtorim dwelling there after destroying them. The change is not from one kind of act to another: both peoples inhabit the place, but one takes the place of the other through destruction.
ALSO GROWS
yoshev: One who dwells; an inhabitant.
יֹשֵׁב
The verse uses this form for the Avims who already inhabit the land.
moshav: A dwelling place or settlement.
מוֹשָׁב
This branch makes dwelling concrete as a place people occupy and settle in.
הִשְׁמִידֻם
hishmidum
GROWS FROM
שׁמד
To destroy or annihilate.
“destroyed” in this verse is hishmidum. This root names the force that clears the way for the new settlement. The verse does not leave the transfer hidden inside the word “dwelt”: destruction stands directly between the first inhabitants and those who occupy their place.
ALSO GROWS
hishmid: To destroy or bring to ruin.
הִשְׁמִיד
This is the verb form used in the verse, with the Avims as its object.
hashmadah: Destruction or annihilation.
הַשְׁמָדָה
This noun from the same root names the outcome that the verse places before the Caphtorim’s settlement.
mashmid: A destroyer; one who brings destruction.
מַשְׁמִיד
This branch keeps the destroying agent present in the sequence rather than letting the resulting settlement appear on its own.
THE PATTERN
New dwelling is sometimes narrated as the result of destroying or driving out those who already occupy the land.
The Horim also settled in Seir in former days; but the children of Esau drove them out, and destroyed them from before them, and settled in their place; as Israel did to the land of his possession, which the LORD gave to them.Which also our fathers, having brought it in, took hold of in turn with Jesus, into the holding of the nations, whom God thrust out before the face of our fathers, until the days of David.THE THREAD
The Horim also settled in Seir in former days; but the children of Esau drove them out, and destroyed them from before them, and settled in their place; as Israel did to the land of his possession, which the LORD gave to them.Deuteronomy 2:12 uses the same Hebrew roots for dwelling and destruction: one people dwells in the land, another destroys them, and then dwells in their place. That repeated wording shows that this verse belongs to a recurring account of settlement through displacement.
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