What Does Joshua 6:22 Mean?
But Joshua had said to the two men who had walked the land, Go into the harlot's house, and bring out from there the woman, and all that she has, as you swore to her.
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
But Joshua had said unto the two men that had spied out the country, Go into the harlot’s house, and bring out thence the woman, and all that she hath, as ye sware unto her.THE KEY
The oath becomes an actual exit: the spies bring Rahab and all that is hers out as they promised.
THE MEANING
A promise becomes a route out: Rahab and all that is hers are brought beyond danger. The pledge reaches beyond one person to include everything entrusted to her. Deliverance is the word made concrete in the act of bringing them out.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A pledge is only speech and can be dropped when circumstances change.
THE ROOT
נִשְׁבַּעְתֶּם
nishbaʿtem
GROWS FROM
שׁבע
To swear or take an oath.
“sware” in this verse is nishbaʿtem. Joshua’s command points back to an oath: the rescue is owed because the men swore to her. The same root names the oath itself and the act of swearing, so this pledge remains active in the action it requires.
ALSO GROWS
nishbaʿ: Swear or take an oath.
נִשְׁבַּע
This verb form belongs to the same word family as the promise Joshua tells the men to honor.
shevuʿah: Oath or sworn pledge.
שְׁבוּעָה
The noun names the pledge itself, keeping the bond and the act of swearing in one word family.
hishbaʿtanu: You made us swear.
הִשְׁבַּעְתָּנוּ
In Joshua 2:17, Rahab makes the spies swear; that same pledge governs the rescue here.
וְהוֹצִיאוּ
ve-hotziʾu
GROWS FROM
יצא
To go out or come forth; in this verb form, to cause someone to go out.
“bring out from there” in this verse is ve-hotziʾu. The Hebrew says to make her go out: the men must carry the exit into action. This is the root used for Israel going out from Egypt, so the verse’s deliverance takes the form of being brought out of danger.
ALSO GROWS
yatsaʾ: Go out or come forth.
יָצָא
It names the movement at the heart of the command: leaving a place of danger.
hotsiʾ: Cause to go out; bring out.
הוֹצִיא
This causative form is the verb Joshua uses: the spies are to make the departure happen.
yetsiʾah: Going out or departure.
יְצִיאָה
The noun shows the root can name the passage out itself, not only the act of leaving.
THE PATTERN
A sworn word is treated as binding speech that carries into later action.
If a man vows a vow to the LORD, or swears an oath to bind a binding upon his living soul, he does not pierce his word; he does according to all that goes out of his mouth.What has gone out of your lips you shall guard and do, even a willing offering, according as you have vowed to the LORD your God, which you have spoken with your mouth.For humankind swears by the greater, and an oath for steadying is for them the boundary of every word set against.THE THREAD
And the men said to her, We will be clean of this oath of yours, which you have made us swear.Both verses use שׁבע (sh-b-ʿ, swear or take an oath): Joshua 2:17 names the oath Rahab made the spies swear, and 6:22 orders the promised exit carried out. The shared root makes the rescue a direct fulfillment of that bond.
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