What Does Joshua 23:12 Mean?
But if you do turn back, and cling to the remnant of these nations, even these remaining among you, and make marriages with them, and go in to them, and they to you.
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
Else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you:THE KEY
Returning here becomes attachment, and attachment becomes a shared life.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks of a return that takes form through attachment: you go back, cling, and bind yourself in marriage until the relation runs both ways. The warning concerns a bond that changes the shape of belonging, not mere nearness.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that returning to an old bond is harmless if it stays personal: here the attachment becomes mutual and reaches into family life.
THE ROOT
וּדְבַקְתֶּם
udvaqtem
GROWS FROM
דבק
d-b-q
to cling, adhere, or stick fast
“cling to” in this verse is udvaqtem. The root carries the sense of sticking close, making this more than agreement or proximity. The verse traces that attachment into mutual entanglement: you go in to them, and they to you.
ALSO GROWS
davaq: to cling or cleave
דָּבַק
The same verb describes the joining of two lives in Genesis 2:24.
daveq: clinging or attached
דָּבֵק
This form makes the root’s image of close adherence visible: the bond holds fast.
תָּשׁוּבוּ
tashuvu
GROWS FROM
שוב
shuv
to turn back or return
“turn back” in this verse is tashuvu. The Hebrew repeats this root in “shov tashuvu,” intensifying the idea of return. The movement back is followed by cleaving, so the verse links returning with renewed attachment.
ALSO GROWS
shav: he returned
שָׁב
This form shows the root as a completed return to a former place or relation.
meshubah: turning away or backsliding
מְשׁוּבָה
This branch gives return its darker shade: a turning back toward what was left.
וְהִתְחַתַּנְתֶּם
vehitkhattantem
GROWS FROM
חתן
ḥ-t-n
to form a relationship by marriage, becoming kin through marriage
“make marriages” in this verse is vehitkhattantem. The marriage verb belongs to the language of becoming in-laws, so the bond extends beyond two people into family ties. The verse’s closing words make that crossing reciprocal: they are in you, and you in them.
ALSO GROWS
chatan: bridegroom or son-in-law
חָתָן
This kinship term shows marriage creating a new family relation.
choten: father-in-law
חֹתֵן
This branch names the family bond formed through marriage.
THE PATTERN
Clinging joins a person to the life and relationships of what they cling to.
Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother, and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.Stand in awe of the LORD your God; him you serve, and to him you cling, and by his nature you swear.Or have you not seen that the one glued to a seller of bodies is one body? For, he says, the two will be one flesh.THE THREAD
Stand in awe of the LORD your God; him you serve, and to him you cling, and by his nature you swear.Joshua names the nations as the object of cleaving; Deuteronomy names the LORD. The shared Hebrew root reveals that the verse’s decisive matter is what becomes the reader’s bond.
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