What Does Joshua 19:14 Mean?
And the border circles it on the north side to Hannathon; and its goings out are in the valley of Jiphthahel;
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 border compasseth it on the north side to Hannathon: and the outgoings thereof are in the valley of Jiphthah-el:THE KEY
The boundary’s outgoings meet a valley named Jiphthah-El, “El opens”, so the verse holds an edge and an opening in the same place.
THE MEANING
Your portion has real, traceable edges, and its boundary reaches a named valley. The text places those outgoings in Jiphthah-El, a name that carries “El opens.” Limit and opening occupy the same landscape.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
An edge always means a dead end. Here, the boundary reaches a valley whose name speaks of opening.
THE ROOT
תֹצְאֹתָיו
totza'otav
GROWS FROM
יצא
to go out, come forth
“goings out” in this verse is totza'otav. The word for the boundary’s “outgoings” comes from the movement of going out. The edge is described not only as a line around a portion, but by the places where it issues outward.
ALSO GROWS
yatsa: to go out, come forth
יָצָא
The same root makes the boundary’s endpoints into acts of going out.
motsa: an exit, departure, or point of issue
מוֹצָא
This related form shows how the root can name the place where something goes out, much like the boundary’s outgoings.
יִפְתַּח־אֵל
Yiphtaḥ-El
GROWS FROM
פתח
to open
“Jiphthah-El” in this verse is Yiphtaḥ-El. The place name carries the phrase “El opens.” At the boundary’s outgoings, the verse names a valley with opening built into its name, setting that image beside the idea of an edge.
ALSO GROWS
pataḥ: to open
פָּתַח
This is the verb carried in Jiphthah-El’s name.
petaḥ: an opening or doorway
פֶּתַח
The related noun makes the root’s sense of opening concrete at the place named along this boundary.
THE PATTERN
A portion becomes legible through its measured bounds and the places where its boundary goes out.
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
And a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it was split and became four heads.The same root, יצא (yatsa), describes the river that “went out” from Eden. In Joshua it names the boundary’s outgoings; in Genesis, what goes out carries water to the garden.
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