What Does Joshua 15:5 Mean?
And the east border was the salt sea, even to the edge of the Jordan. And their north border was from the tongue of the sea at the edge of the Jordan.
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 east border was the salt sea, even unto the end of Jordan. And their border in the north quarter was from the bay of the sea at the uttermost part of Jordan:THE KEY
The Jordan’s name carries its motion, “the descending one”, into the very boundary that ends at its waters.
THE MEANING
Judah’s border takes shape through landmarks: the Salt Sea reaches to the Jordan’s end, and the northern line begins at the sea’s bay. The river’s name carries the sense of descent, placing the boundary where that descending course meets the sea.
THE ROOT
יַרְדֵּן
Yarden
GROWS FROM
ירד
y-r-d
To descend, go down.
English makes “Jordan” look like a fixed place-name, while its Hebrew form, Yarden (יַרְדֵּן, “the descending one”), carries the river’s movement. The boundary is marked by a river whose name holds the descent that leads it to the Salt Sea.
ALSO GROWS
yarad: To descend or go down.
יָרַד
This is the verbal root beneath Yarden; it brings the river’s movement into the place-name.
yored: One who is descending; descending.
יוֹרֵד
This form keeps the same root in motion, making clear that Yarden’s name echoes an action, not just a location.
THE PATTERN
An inheritance takes visible shape through the lines that mark its extent.
And the border shall go down to Jordan, and its goings out shall be at the salt sea. This shall be your land with its borders round about.The cords fall to me in sweet places; indeed, my inheritance is beautiful.And he made from one blood every nation of humankind to settle upon all the face of the earth, marking out their fitted seasons and setting the boundary stones of their dwelling.THE THREAD
He said to me, These waters go out toward the eastern region, go down into the Arabah, and go into the sea. And when they go out into the sea, the waters shall be healed.“Go down” here is yarad (יָרַד, to descend), the same root carried in Yarden (יַרְדֵּן, Jordan, “the descending one”). Joshua marks where the descending river meets the sea; Ezekiel pictures descending waters reaching a sea and bringing healing.
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