What Does Joshua 18:15 Mean?
And the south quarter was from the edge of Kirjathjearim, and the border came out on the west, and came out to the spring of the waters of Nephtoah.
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 south quarter was from the end of Kirjath-jearim, and the border went out on the west, and went out to the well of waters of Nephtoah:THE KEY
The border goes out toward Nephtoah, a name linked to “opening,” and ends at a spring where water comes forth.
THE MEANING
The verse makes a boundary traceable: it leaves the edge of Kirjath-jearim, moves west, and arrives at the spring of Nephtoah. Its repeated “went out” describes a line in motion, ending at an identifiable source of water. You can recognize an edge by the path it follows and the place where it opens.
THE ROOT
וְיָצָא
wəyāṣāʾ
GROWS FROM
יצא
to go out, come forth, or emerge
“came out” in this verse is wəyāṣāʾ. The Hebrew repeats וְיָצָא, “and it goes out,” where English gives us “went out” twice. Words from this root can also name an outlet or endpoint, so the border is described through its departures and where it reaches.
ALSO GROWS
tōṣāʾāh: outlet, issue, or endpoint
תּוֹצָאָה
This word can describe the going-out point of a border, making the connection between the boundary’s course and its endpoints explicit.
mōṣāʾ: going out, exit, or source
מוֹצָא
The border’s repeated movement toward a spring echoes this root’s sense of a point from which something comes forth.
נֶפְתּוֹחַ
Nəp̄tōaḥ
GROWS FROM
פתח
to open or loosen
Nephtoah’s name is linked to פתח, “to open,” and the verse places it beside a spring of waters. The boundary arrives at a named opening where water comes forth.
ALSO GROWS
pātūaḥ: open or opened
פָּתוּחַ
This form carries the opening sense associated with Nephtoah’s name.
maphtēaḥ: key
מַפְתֵּחַ
A key is an instrument for opening; this branch makes the opening sense of the place name concrete.
THE PATTERN
Scripture makes a boundary legible by naming its lines, limits, and points of arrival.
And your border shall turn about from the south to the ascent of Akrabbim, and cross over to Zin. And its goings out shall be from the south to Kadeshbarnea, and shall go out to Hazaraddar, and cross over to Azmon.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
And a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it was split and became four heads.The river “went out” uses יָצָא (yāṣāʾ, to go out), the same root repeated for the border here. In Genesis it is a river flowing from Eden; in Joshua the border’s path reaches a spring.
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