What Does Joshua 11:2 Mean in the King James?

And to the kings that were on the north of the mountains, and of the plains south of Chinneroth, and in the valley, and in the borders of Dor on the west,
Joshua 11:2 · 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.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

The Hebrew word for “north” shares its root with “hide,” so the coalition’s reach begins at a direction whose name echoes concealment.

Opposition takes a visible shape across mountain country, lowlands, a valley, and the western coast. Even what seems to come from a hidden edge receives a name and a place on the map.

צָפוֹן

tsāfôn

GROWS FROM

צפן

To hide, conceal, or store away.

The word for north shares the root ⁨צפן⁩ with words for what is hidden or kept in reserve. The verse still names a real direction, while that shared seed gives the northern edge a quiet echo of concealment beneath the English.

ALSO GROWS

tsāphan: To hide, treasure, or store away.

צָפַן

This verb makes explicit the hiddenness carried in the word for north.

tsāfûn: Hidden or concealed.

צָפוּן

This branch preserves the root’s sense of what is out of sight.

שְׁפֵלָה

shephelah

GROWS FROM

שפל

To be low or brought low.

“valley” in this verse is shephelah. The Hebrew name for this lowland carries the root for being low. Beside the mountain country, it gives the verse a vertical sweep from elevated ground down into the lowlands.

ALSO GROWS

shāphāl: Low or lowly.

שָׁפָל

It shares the low-ground sense embedded in the place-name.

hishpîl: To lower or bring low.

הִשְׁפִּיל

This verb shows the same root in motion, while the verse uses it to name a kind of terrain.

Scripture makes the scope of a gathering legible by naming its reach across directions and terrain.

And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward:
Genesis 13:14 · KJVThe land’s expanse becomes visible as Abram is directed to look across all four directions.
And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Matthew 24:31 · KJVThe gathering’s reach is shown by naming its full span, from one end to the other.
Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.
Psalm 31:20 · KJV

The Hebrew word for “north,” ⁨צָפוֹן⁩ (tsāfôn), shares the root ⁨צפן⁩ (tsāphan, “hide”) with the word translated “hide” here. Joshua names a direction with that hiddenness in its root; this verse brings the same seed into view as shelter.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us

Joshua 11:2 KJV Meaning