What Does Deuteronomy 2:18 Mean in the King James?
Thou art to pass over through Ar, the coast of Moab, this day:
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The border is real, but the verse names it as a threshold crossed today.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks in the moment movement meets a named boundary: the edge is real, yet it is crossed today. The crossing is specific and present, carrying you through the limit rather than leaving you at it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The boundary is not the end of the way; it is a line the passage crosses.
THE ROOT
עֹבֵר
ʿōvēr
GROWS FROM
עבר
ʿ-b-r
To cross, pass over, or move from one side to another.
“pass over” in this verse is ʿōvēr. The verb names movement across a line, while the related noun מַעֲבָר (maʿavār, passage) can name the crossing-place. The root holds the act of crossing and the passage itself together: the border is not erased; it is traversed.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāvar: To cross or pass over.
עָבַר
This verb form makes the verse’s movement an act of crossing, not simply arriving at a border.
maʿavār: A passage or crossing-place.
מַעֲבָר
This related form shows that crossing can name a passage through, as well as the act of moving across.
ʿēver: Beyond, across, or the other side.
עֵבֶר
This noun makes the far side part of the root’s picture: crossing is movement in relation to both sides.
THE PATTERN
A marked boundary becomes a passage when movement crosses it.
And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan.And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us.THE THREAD
Now rise up, said I, and get you over the brook Zered. And we went over the brook Zered.The same crossing verb appears first as a call to cross the brook Zered and then as a report that the crossing happens. Here that movement reaches Moab’s border, making the boundary one point in a passage already underway.
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