What Does Joshua 10:29 Mean in the King James?

Then Joshua passed from Makkedah, and all Israel with him, unto Libnah, and fought against Libnah:

Joshua 10:29 · KJV

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

Joshua’s name means “the LORD delivers,” and here that deliverance moves with the whole people into another battle.

THE MEANING

You are placed inside an advance that does not end at one city: Joshua and all Israel move from Makkedah to Libnah, where they fight again. The verse leaves the violence in plain view; arrival at Libnah means battle.

THE ROOT

יְהוֹשֻׁעַ

Yəhōšūaʿ

GROWS FROM

ישע

y-š-ʿ

Yashaʿ means to deliver or bring out of danger; the name joins this root to YHWH.

Joshua’s name carries the meaning “the LORD delivers,” while the scene places that name beside a campaign that continues through battle. The name does not soften the violence the verse names.

ALSO GROWS

yeshaʿ: deliverance

יֵשַׁע

This noun carries the same root into the idea of deliverance itself, which the verse sets beside a hard-fought advance.

yeshuʿah: deliverance, rescue

יְשׁוּעָה

The root behind Joshua’s name also names rescue, joining the person’s name to the act of bringing out of danger.

hōshīaʿ: he delivered, brought to safety

הוֹשִׁיעַ

This verb makes the root’s movement concrete: deliverance is bringing someone out of danger.

וַיַּעֲבֹר

wayyaʿavor root ʿavar

GROWS FROM

עבר

ʿ-b-r

To cross over or pass through.

The root gives “passed” a spatial force: Joshua and the people cross from one place toward another, rather than simply leave something behind. The same crossing verb describes Abram moving through the land, where its inhabitants are still present.

ALSO GROWS

ʿeber: beyond, the other side

עֵבֶר

This branch holds the sense of crossing toward what lies beyond the starting point.

maʿavar: a crossing, passage

מַעֲבָר

This noun makes the verse’s movement a passage through space, not just a change of location.

THE PATTERN

Movement through occupied territory can carry a people from one encounter into the next.

And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.

Genesis 12:6 · KJVAbram crosses through the land while its inhabitants remain there, placing movement beside the presence of others.

And Sihon would not suffer Israel to pass through his border: but Sihon gathered all his people together, and went out against Israel into the wilderness: and he came to Jahaz, and fought against Israel.

Numbers 21:23 · KJVIsrael’s passage is blocked, and the attempted crossing turns into open battle.

And Joshua passed from Libnah, and all Israel with him, unto Lachish, and encamped against it, and fought against it:

Joshua 10:31 · KJVThe movement continues from Libnah to Lachish, where the verse names the next fight.

THE THREAD

And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.

Genesis 12:6 · KJV

Joshua’s “passed” and Abram’s “passed through” use the same Hebrew root, ⁨עבר⁩ (ʿavar), meaning to cross over or pass through. In both verses, a leader moves through the land while the people and realities already there remain part of the scene.

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