What Does Joshua 4:18 Mean?
And it came to pass, when the priests who lifted the ark of the covenant of the LORD had come up out of the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests' feet were lifted up to the dry ground, that the waters of the Jordan turned back to their place, and flowed over all its banks, as before.
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 it came to pass, when the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD were come up out of the midst of Jordan, and the soles of the priests’ feet were lifted up unto the dry land, that the waters of Jordan returned unto their place, and flowed over all his banks, as they did before.THE KEY
The word “returned” makes the Jordan’s reopening part of the crossing: its waters resume their descent after the ark-bearing feet leave the riverbed.
THE MEANING
A passage can be fully open without making the boundary disappear forever. The waters return to their place when the priests’ feet leave the riverbed, so the crossing is real even as the river resumes its course.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that a true opening must permanently remove the boundary: here, the waters return, and the crossing remains real.
THE ROOT
וַיָּשֻׁבוּ
vayashuvu
GROWS FROM
שׁוּב
sh-w-b
To turn back, return, or go back.
“turned back” in this verse is vayashuvu. The Hebrew root שׁוּב (shuv), “turn back, return,” presents the river as resuming its course rather than disappearing. This same root can describe restoration or a turning away, so the direction of the return matters: here, the waters return to their banks.
ALSO GROWS
yeshovev: Restores, brings back.
יְשׁוֹבֵב
The same root can describe what is brought back to its place; here, the waters return to their course.
meshubah: Turning away, backsliding.
מְשׁוּבָה
This branch shows that a turn can move in different directions; in this verse the waters turn back toward their banks.
יַרְדֵּן
Yarden
GROWS FROM
יָרַד
y-r-d
To go down, descend.
The name Yarden is traditionally connected to יָרַד (yarad), “descend”: the Jordan is the descending river. The priests come up from its bed, and then the descending waters resume their course.
ALSO GROWS
yarad: To go down, descend.
יָרַד
This verb gives the river’s name its downward movement.
horid: To bring down, cause to descend.
הוֹרִיד
The same root can describe descent set in motion; here the river’s flow resumes after the priests rise from its bed.
THE PATTERN
A water boundary can be held back to open a dry passage, then resume its force when the crossing is complete.
And the LORD said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the sea, and let the waters turn back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and upon their horsemen.The sea saw and fled; the Jordan turns backward.By trust they stepped across the Red Sea as over dry land, which the Egyptians, making the attempt, were swallowed down.THE THREAD
And the LORD said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the sea, and let the waters turn back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and upon their horsemen.“Come again” in Exodus and “returned” here share the Hebrew root שׁוּב (shuv), “turn back, return.” In both crossings, the waters’ return marks the passage’s closure; Exodus also shows that return becoming destructive to those pursuing.
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