What Does Joshua 11:6 Mean?
And the LORD said to Joshua, Do not fear before them, for tomorrow at this very hour I will give them all up, pierced before Israel. You shall hamstring their horses, and burn their chariots with fire.
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 LORD said unto Joshua, Be not afraid because of them: for to morrow about this time will I deliver them up all slain before Israel: thou shalt hough their horses, and burn their chariots with fire.THE KEY
The verb rendered “deliver” is “give”: victory is pictured as the enemy handed over slain, followed by the disabling of its horses and the burning of its chariots.
THE MEANING
The verse meets your fear with a declared outcome: the enemy is given over slain, the horses are hamstrung, and the chariots are burned. Its assurance is inseparable from that violence; the text neither hides the death nor presents military power as something Israel keeps.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Fear says the force in front of you determines what happens next. The verse assigns the outcome to the LORD’s action while keeping the violence of that action in full view.
THE ROOT
נֹתֵן
nōtēn
GROWS FROM
נתן
Give, set, place.
“give them all up” in this verse is nōtēn. The Hebrew form behind “deliver” is נֹתֵן (nōtēn), from נתן (natan), “give, set, place.” That reveals a concrete handover beneath the familiar word: the enemy is given over as slain, and the next clauses show the cost and aftermath of that outcome.
ALSO GROWS
mattanah: Gift; something given.
מַתָּנָה
This related noun makes the root’s act of giving tangible; here, the giving over is a stark military outcome, not a gift in the ordinary sense.
nātun: Given, placed, assigned.
נָתוּן
This related form brings out the root’s sense of placement: the slain are set before Israel as the declared outcome.
תְּעַקֵּר
teʿaqqēr
GROWS FROM
עקר
Uproot, pluck out; in this verb, hamstring.
“hamstring” in this verse is teʿaqqēr. The verb behind “hough” carries the root image of uprooting or plucking out. English names the injury; the root adds the image of removing a capacity at its source, while a related word for a barren woman shows the same root can mark blocked capacity.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāqar: Uproot, pluck out.
עָקַר
This is the root’s basic image: something is removed from its source, as the horse’s ability to serve in battle is disabled.
ʿăqārāh: A barren woman.
עֲקָרָה
This related form describes a loss of capacity; here, the capacity being cut off is the horse’s military use.
THE PATTERN
Divine assurance answers fear with a declared act that changes the situation, without pretending the threat is harmless.
Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not look about in dismay, for I am your God. I will grip you, and I will help you, and I will hold you up with the right hand of my alignment.Do not tremble, little flock, for your Father delights to give you the governance.He halts wars to the edge of the earth; he breaks the bow, and cuts the spear in two; he burns the wagons in the fire.THE THREAD
Then David asked of the LORD again. And the LORD answered him and said, Rise, go down to Keilah; for I will give the Philistines into your hand.“I will deliver” here uses נתן (natan, give, set, place), the same root translated “deliver” in Joshua 11:6. In both verses, deliverance is pictured as a handover; Joshua then makes that outcome starkly visible in slain enemies and destroyed war machinery.
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