What Does Joshua 6:26 Mean?
And Joshua bound them with an oath at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before the LORD who rises up and builds this city, Jericho. He shall lay its foundation in his firstborn, and in his smallest son shall he stand its gates upright.
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 Joshua adjured them at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before the LORD, that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho: he shall lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it.THE KEY
The curse binds Jericho’s rebuilding to the loss of the builder’s sons, while Hebrew links the word for building (banah) with the word for son (ben).
THE MEANING
The verse curses the man who rebuilds Jericho before the LORD, assigning the city’s foundation to his firstborn and its gates to his youngest. It binds the city’s rebuilding to loss at both ends of the builder’s family.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that rebuilding a city is cost-free: here, the builder’s family bears the cost, from firstborn to youngest.
THE ROOT
אָרוּר
ʾārūr
GROWS FROM
ארר
ʾārar
To curse; to pronounce someone under a curse.
“Cursed” in this verse is ʾārūr. The curse is spoken before the LORD and attached to the man who rises to rebuild. The sentence reaches beyond the act itself: it names the loss that will mark his family and his work.
ALSO GROWS
ʾārar: To curse
אָרַר
The verb names the act behind the pronouncement: the man is placed under a curse for rebuilding.
meʾērāh: Curse, calamity
מְאֵרָה
This related noun shows the curse as a consequence that can come upon a person or household.
וּבָנָה
uvanah
GROWS FROM
בנה
bānāh
To build, establish.
“Buildeth” in this verse is uvanah. Hebrew links בָּנָה (banah), “to build,” with בֵּן (ben), “son.” That kinship sharpens the verse’s unsettling image: the building of the city and the loss of the builder’s sons are bound together in its wording.
ALSO GROWS
ben: Son
בֵּן
Its linguistic link with banah makes the sons named in the curse resonate with the act of building.
binyan: Building, structure
בִּנְיָן
This related form keeps the focus on what is constructed, the city whose foundations and gates are named through the sons.
יְיַסְּדֶנָּה
yĕyassĕdennāh
GROWS FROM
יסד
yāsad
To lay a foundation, establish.
“lay its foundation” in this verse is yĕyassĕdennāh. The verse assigns the foundation to the firstborn and the gates to the youngest, placing family loss at the beginning and the outer boundary of the city’s structure. The architecture is described through the two ends of the builder’s family.
ALSO GROWS
yesōd: Foundation, basis
יְסוֹד
The related noun names the base on which a structure rests, the very place the verse assigns to the firstborn.
môsād: Foundation, support
מוֹסָד
This related form keeps the image of a city’s support tied to the cost named in the curse.
THE PATTERN
A spoken curse can reach both the land and a household, until a place’s rebuilding carries the cost.
And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened her mouth to take your brother's blood from your hand.Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb, and the fruit of your ground, the young of your herd, and the flocks of your sheep.In his days Hiel the Bethelite built Jericho; he laid its foundation in Abiram his firstborn, and set up its doors in Segub his youngest son, according to the word of the LORD, which he spoke by the hand of Joshua son of Nun.THE THREAD
In his days Hiel the Bethelite built Jericho; he laid its foundation in Abiram his firstborn, and set up its doors in Segub his youngest son, according to the word of the LORD, which he spoke by the hand of Joshua son of Nun.This verse states what Joshua 6:26 pronounces: Hiel builds Jericho, and its foundation and gates are tied to his firstborn Abiram and youngest Segub. The repeated construction-and-sons language makes the curse concrete.
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