What Does Joshua 2:22 Mean?
And they went, and came to the mountain, and settled there three days, until the pursuers turned back. And the pursuers sought them throughout all the road, but did not find them.
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 they went, and came unto the mountain, and abode there three days, until the pursuers were returned: and the pursuers sought them throughout all the way, but found them not.THE KEY
A search can cover every road and still fail to reach what it pursues.
THE MEANING
The verse holds open the space between pursuit and finding. You can be searched for along every known way and still remain beyond reach; searching, even when persistent and comprehensive, does not itself mean discovery.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being pursued everywhere does not mean there is nowhere left to hide.
THE ROOT
רֹדְפִים
rodfim
GROWS FROM
רדף
R-D-PH
To pursue or chase after.
The Hebrew word for these pursuers comes from the same root used for pursuing peace. The root names the force of pursuit; what is being pursued gives that force its direction.
ALSO GROWS
radaph: To pursue, chase after.
רָדַף
This verb describes the act behind the pursuers in the verse.
rodef: One who pursues; a pursuer.
רֹדֵף
This form names the person doing the chasing, as in the verse.
redof: Pursue.
רְדֹף
The same root appears in the call to pursue peace, showing that pursuit itself is not limited to hostility.
בִּקְשׁוּ
biqshu
GROWS FROM
בקשׁ
B-Q-Sh
To seek or request.
“sought” in this verse is biqshu. The verse uses one root for chasing and another for searching: the pursuers chase, then seek the women along every way. Those actions cover the ground, but neither becomes finding.
ALSO GROWS
biqqesh: To seek or look for.
בִּקֵּשׁ
This is the seeking action the pursuers take throughout the way.
baqqashah: A request or petition.
בַּקָּשָׁה
The same root can describe seeking something or asking for it; here the sought ones remain beyond the search.
שָׁבוּ
shavu
GROWS FROM
שוב
Sh-W-B
To turn back or return.
“turned back” in this verse is shavu. The pursuers’ movement ends in a turning back, not in discovery. The verse’s final shape is pursuit, failed search, return.
ALSO GROWS
lashuv: To return or turn back.
לָשׁוּב
This infinitive carries the root sense of the pursuers’ return.
teshuvah: Return or turning.
תְּשׁוּבָה
This noun preserves the root’s sense of turning, which clarifies that the pursuers reverse their course.
THE PATTERN
The intensity or reach of a search does not guarantee that what is sought will be found.
And David settled in the wilderness, in strongholds, and sat on a mountain in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God did not give him into his hand.Yet he crossed over, and look, he was not; I sought him, but he could not be found.And in those days men seek death and do not find it, and they long to die, and death flees from them.THE THREAD
Turn aside from evil and do good; seek wholeness and pursue it.The word translated “pursuers” shares its root with the command to pursue peace. The root carries the act of pursuit; its object determines where that force leads.
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