What Does Joshua 6:23 Mean?
And the young men who had walked the land went in, and brought out Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and her brothers, and all that she had. And they brought out all her kin, and set them down outside the camp of Israel.
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 young men that were spies went in, and brought out Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and her brethren, and all that she had; and they brought out all her kindred, and left them without the camp of Israel.THE KEY
This rescue is not yet an entrance: the household is carried out of Jericho and left beyond Israel’s camp.
THE MEANING
There are thresholds where safety is real before belonging is settled: Rahab and her household are carried out, yet remain beyond the camp. The verse lets rescue and distance occupy the same moment.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being rescued does not always mean being immediately at home; distance can remain after danger has been crossed.
THE ROOT
וַיּוֹצִיאוּ
wayyotsi’u
GROWS FROM
יצא
To go out; in this causative form, to bring someone out.
“brought out” in this verse is wayyotsi’u. The Hebrew is the causative form of יצא (yatsa, to go out): the spies cause Rahab and her household to go out. The verse marks a real passage across a boundary while leaving their destination unsettled.
ALSO GROWS
yatsa: To go out, leave, or emerge.
יָצָא
This is the basic motion beneath the rescuers’ action: Rahab’s household crosses from inside Jericho to outside it.
yetzi’ah: An exit or going out.
יְצִיאָה
The exit is concrete: the verse repeats the movement of carrying the household out, then marks where they are left.
רָחָב
Rachav
GROWS FROM
רחב
To be or become broad, wide, or spacious.
Rahab’s name draws on רחב, “to be broad”; that echo stands against the boundaries of the city and camp. She is carried out of Jericho yet left beyond the camp, so the name’s spaciousness does not erase the passage’s unsettled edge.
ALSO GROWS
rachav: To widen or be broad.
רָחַב
The name’s root carries an image of widening alongside the verse’s movement across boundaries.
merchav: A broad place or open space.
מֶרְחָב
This branch gives the root a sense of spacious room, while Rahab’s household is still positioned outside the camp.
THE PATTERN
Deliverance moves someone out of danger and toward a new place, even when the crossing happens before arrival.
And while he lingered, the men gripped his hand, and the hand of his wife, and the hands of his two daughters, the LORD sparing him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.This one brought them out, having made wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years.Who has brought us out of the authority of darkness and has moved us into the governance of the Son of his love.THE THREAD
Therefore say to the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the loads of the Egyptians, and I will snatch you from their service, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm, and with great judgments.“Bring you out” uses the same Hebrew root יצא (yatsa, to go out) as “brought out” here. Exodus names movement from constraining burdens; Joshua brings that movement close to one household, showing an exit that is tangible even while its next place is not yet settled.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us