What Does Joshua 8:35 Mean?
There was not a word of all that Moses commanded which Joshua did not call out before all the assembly of Israel, with the women, and the little ones, and the sojourners who walked among them.
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
There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel, with the women, and the little ones, and the strangers that were conversant among them.THE KEY
Completeness and inclusion meet here: every word is read to a gathering that includes those most easily left at the edges.
THE MEANING
No word of the instruction is left unread before the people. Women, children, and resident strangers are named among those who hear it, so the whole gathering stands within its reach. You are part of that hearing now; the word is not reserved for those at the center.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that the instruction belongs only to Israelite men: women, children, and resident strangers are included in the hearing.
THE ROOT
דָּבָר
dāḇār
GROWS FROM
ד־ב־ר
d-b-r
To speak; as a noun, a word, matter, or thing.
The Hebrew word can name both what is spoken and the matter or thing itself, so instruction carries substance into shared life. Here, none of that substance is withheld from the gathered people.
ALSO GROWS
dibber: He spoke; uttered.
דִּבֵּר
The spoken action and the word share a root: the instruction becomes present as it is voiced before the people.
devarim: Words, matters, or things.
דְּבָרִים
The plural keeps the sense of words and matters together, echoing the verse’s insistence that not one part of the instruction is omitted.
קָרָא
qārāʾ
GROWS FROM
ק־ר־א
q-r-ʾ
To call, proclaim, or read aloud.
“read” in this verse is qārāʾ. The verb for reading also carries the sense of calling or proclaiming. In this verse, the words are called out before the whole gathering, making the reading a shared act of hearing.
ALSO GROWS
qara: To call, proclaim, or read aloud.
קָרָא
The same verb holds reading alongside calling, bringing the instruction into the hearing of those gathered.
miqra: A reading or convocation.
מִקְרָא
This related word carries both public reading and assembly, joining the voiced word with the gathered people.
THE PATTERN
Instruction becomes shared when it is voiced before the gathered community, with all who are present included in its hearing.
Assemble the people, the men, the women, and the little ones, and the sojourner within your gates, so that they may hear and respond, and so that they may learn, and be struck with awe of the LORD your God, and guard to do all the words of this instruction;And he called aloud from it before the wide place that was before the gate of the waters, from first light until the middle of the day, facing the men and the women, and those who could tell the difference, and the ears of all the people were turned toward the book of the instruction.And he came to Nazareth, where he had been nourished. As was his custom, he entered the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up to read.THE THREAD
When all Israel comes to see the face of the LORD your God in the place he will choose, you will call out this instruction before all Israel, in their ears.The verb for “read” is קָרָא (qārāʾ, call or proclaim), the same root used for Joshua’s reading here. Moses’ instruction and Joshua’s reading share one calling voice, placing the word in the hearing of the whole gathering.
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