What Does Joshua 14:10 Mean?
And now, behold, the LORD has kept me alive, as he said, these forty-five years, from the time the LORD spoke this word to Moses, while the children of Israel walked in the wilderness; and now, behold, I am this day eighty-five years old.
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 now, behold, the LORD hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty and five years, even since the LORD spake this word unto Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness: and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five years old.THE KEY
Caleb’s eighty-five years make the delay visible: his life and the word spoken over him have endured through the same forty-five years.
THE MEANING
A promise can remain present through a long interval, carried by a life that continues. Here, the passing years do not cancel the word; Caleb’s age makes its endurance visible.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that a promise has failed simply because its fulfillment has taken longer than expected.
THE ROOT
הֶחֱיָנִי
hecheyani
GROWS FROM
חיה
To live; in this form, to cause to live or preserve life.
“kept me alive” in this verse is hecheyani. The Hebrew verb says more than that Caleb survived: the LORD caused his life to continue. The years of waiting are also years in which life remains present to carry the spoken promise.
ALSO GROWS
chay: Living, alive.
חַי
This everyday form shares the root of “kept me alive,” keeping the focus on life that is still present.
chayyim: Life.
חַיִּים
The plural form for life echoes the sustained span of Caleb’s years.
chayyah: A living creature or animal.
חִיָּה
The same root names a living being, connecting preserved life with life embodied.
הַדָּבָר
hadavar
GROWS FROM
דבר
To speak; דָּבָר (davar) means a word, matter, or thing.
The verse uses this root for the word spoken to Moses, placing speech beside its lasting consequence. Its branches carry both the act of speaking and the word or matter spoken, linking the promise to what unfolds across the years.
ALSO GROWS
dibber: He spoke.
דִּבֵּר
This verb names the spoken act that begins the forty-five-year interval.
devarim: Words or matters.
דְּבָרִים
The same root can name words and matters, bringing the spoken promise close to what becomes visible in Caleb’s life.
THE PATTERN
A spoken word can remain in force through the years between its utterance and its visible fulfillment.
For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him.Until the time his word came, the word of the LORD refined him.And so, having been slow to heat, he reached the promise.THE THREAD
I am bowed very low; LORD, bring me to life according to your word.“Quicken me” translates חַיֵּנִי (ḥayyēnî, “give me life”), from the same root חיה (chayah, “to live”) as Joshua’s “kept me alive”; the psalm also names God’s word in the same breath of thought. Joshua shows life continuing across forty-five years, while the psalm makes the word-and-life connection explicit.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us