What Does Joshua 15:16 Mean?
And Caleb said, He who strikes Kirjathsepher and seizes it, to him I will give Achsah my daughter as wife.
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 Caleb said, He that smiteth Kirjath-sepher, and taketh it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife.THE KEY
The city’s capture is only half the prize: Caleb makes Achsah’s marriage the reward for conquest.
THE MEANING
The terms are stark: the man who strikes and captures the city receives Achsah as a wife. Caleb’s pledge makes her marriage part of the conquest’s reward, while her own voice is absent from the bargain in this verse.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the assumption that the verse presents a mutual courtship: Caleb offers Achsah as the reward for victory, and she does not speak here.
THE ROOT
וְנָתַתִּי
venatatti
GROWS FROM
נתן
Give, set, or place.
“give” in this verse is venatatti. The root נתן holds giving together with setting or placing. Here, the language of giving makes Achsah the object of Caleb’s pledge, exposing the terms of the arrangement rather than leaving the victory’s reward abstract.
ALSO GROWS
natan: Give, set, or place.
נָתַן
This verb family carries the same range as Caleb’s pledge to give Achsah.
mattanah: A gift or present.
מַתָּנָה
The noun makes the language of giving concrete, echoing how Achsah is positioned as the reward in the bargain.
יַכֶּה
yakkeh
GROWS FROM
נכה
Strike or smite.
English “smiteth” can sound antique and mild, but יַכֶּה (yakkeh, strikes or smites) names a physical attack. The same root can name both a blow and the act of striking, tying the promised marriage to violent conquest.
ALSO GROWS
makkah: A blow, wound, or plague.
מַכָּה
This branch names the force of the strike behind the city’s assault.
mukkeh: One who has been struck or stricken.
מֻכֶּה
It shows the root’s other side: the blow has a recipient, underscoring that the challenge is violent.
וּלְכָדָהּ
u-lekhadah
GROWS FROM
לכד
Capture or seize.
“seizes” in this verse is u-lekhadah. לכד names capture or seizure. Its relative מַלְכֹּדֶת (malkodet, snare or trap) gives “taketh it” the force of securing a hold on the city after the strike; the pledge follows completed capture.
ALSO GROWS
lakad: Capture or seize.
לָכַד
This is the core action behind taking the city in the verse.
malkodet: A snare or trap.
מַלְכֹּדֶת
It shares the idea of taking hold, showing that the city’s capture is a decisive seizure.
THE PATTERN
A woman’s marriage is made a reward or exchange tied to a man’s service or victory.
And Othniel the son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, seized it; and he gave him Achsah his daughter as wife.And the men of Israel said, Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to taunt Israel. And it will be that the man who kills him, the king will enrich him with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and make his father's house unbound in Israel.And Jacob loved Rachel, and he said, I will serve you seven years for Rachel your little daughter.THE THREAD
And the men of Israel said, Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to taunt Israel. And it will be that the man who kills him, the king will enrich him with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and make his father's house unbound in Israel.The Hebrew root נכה (nakah, to strike or smite) names the attack on the city here and the killing of Goliath in 1 Samuel. In both passages, a daughter’s marriage is promised as part of the reward attached to a man’s victory.
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