What Does Joshua 10:1 Mean?
Now it came to pass, when Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem had heard how Joshua had taken Ai and devoted it to destruction, as he had done to Jericho and her king, so he had done to Ai and her king; and how those who had settled in Gibeon had made wholeness with Israel, and were among them;
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
Now it came to pass, when Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem had heard how Joshua had taken Ai, and had utterly destroyed it; as he had done to Jericho and her king, so he had done to Ai and her king; and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel, and were among them;THE KEY
The Hebrew root שׁלם (sh-l-m, wholeness) makes peace a bond that places Gibeon among Israel, beside cities devoted to destruction.
THE MEANING
You see two outcomes held together: Ai is devoted to destruction, while Gibeon makes an agreement and becomes “among” Israel. Peace here is a public bond that changes belonging and power, not a private mood.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Peace is only a pause in hostility; here, the agreement changes who belongs among Israel.
THE ROOT
הִשְׁלִימוּ
hishlimu
GROWS FROM
שׁלם
sh-l-m
To be whole or complete; to bring a relationship into settled accord.
“made wholeness” in this verse is hishlimu. The verb behind “made peace” shares its root with words for wholeness and completeness, and the next phrase shows the agreement’s concrete result: Gibeon is “among them.” Jerusalem’s name, יְרוּשָׁלַם (Yerushalayim, Jerusalem carrying the association of shalom, wholeness), bears that same association, so its king hears a bond forming around another city.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: Wholeness; peace.
שָׁלוֹם
This branch shows the depth within “made peace”: the agreement binds Gibeon into a shared whole.
shalem: Whole; complete.
שָׁלֵם
This branch connects peace with a settled relationship, rather than a passing feeling of calm.
וַיַּחֲרִימָהּ
wayyaḥarimah
GROWS FROM
חרם
ḥ-r-m
To place under the ban; to devote to destruction.
“devoted it to destruction” in this verse is wayyaḥarimah. The wording marks Ai’s fate as an act of placing the city under a destruction-ban, not merely defeating its king. This severity stands beside Gibeon’s agreement, so the verse keeps annihilation and negotiated inclusion in the same frame.
ALSO GROWS
ḥērem: A ban; something devoted to destruction.
חֵרֶם
This noun from the same root makes the force of “utterly destroyed” more specific than an ordinary defeat.
wayyaḥarimu: They devoted to destruction.
וַיַּחֲרִימוּ
The same verb form appears in the account of Jericho, linking the fate of Ai to the verse’s earlier mention of that city.
אֲדֹנִי־צֶדֶק
ʾAdonî-ṣedeq
GROWS FROM
צדק
ṣ-d-q
Alignment; right order.
“Adoni-zedek” in this verse is ʾAdonî-ṣedeq. The name joins “lord” with alignment or right order, compressing the sense “my lord is alignment.” The ruler hears that Gibeon’s allegiance has shifted, making the relation between rule and alignment part of the scene.
ALSO GROWS
ṣedeq: Alignment; rightness.
צֶדֶק
This word supplies the name’s second element and frames the ruler through the idea of right order.
ṣaddiq: A person who is aligned or right.
צַדִּיק
This related word shows how the same root can describe a person in relation to right order.
THE PATTERN
Peace changes relationships from hostility toward shared order and belonging.
That you will do us no harm, as we have not touched you, and as we have done to you nothing but good, and have sent you away in wholeness. You are now blessed by the LORD.And he shall judge among the nations, and shall set right many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they train for war anymore.For he is our wholeness, the one who made both one and loosed the middle wall of the fence.THE THREAD
And Joshua made wholeness with them, and cut a covenant with them, to let them live; and the lifted ones of the assembly swore to them.The same שׁלם (sh-l-m, wholeness) verb makes peace a concrete covenant bond, and this verse names survival and an oath as its terms. Joshua 10:1 shows the bond’s visible result: Gibeon is “among” Israel.
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