What Does Joshua 12:3 Mean in the King James?
And from the plain to the sea of Chinneroth on the east, and unto the sea of the plain, even the salt sea on the east, the way to Beth-jeshimoth; and from the south, under Ashdoth-pisgah:
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 boundary makes even desolation locatable, tracing a route toward Beth-jeshimoth, the house of the wastes.
THE MEANING
The line is traceable: plain to sea, along a way toward Beth-jeshimoth, then south beneath Pisgah’s slopes. Even a place whose name carries desolation has a position in this landscape; named landmarks make the extent concrete.
THE ROOT
דֶּרֶךְ
derekh
GROWS FROM
דרך
To tread, or make a path by treading.
The word for a road grows from the action of treading: a way is a track made by movement. English presents a route as a static line, while the Hebrew word holds the going and the path together.
ALSO GROWS
derekh: way, road
דֶּרֶךְ
Here it names the route toward Beth-jeshimoth that helps make the boundary traceable.
darakh: to tread, step, or march
דָּרַךְ
This verbal branch reveals the movement contained in the route’s name: a way is something traversed.
מִזְרָחָה
mizrachah
GROWS FROM
זרח
To rise or shine.
“eastward” in this verse is mizrachah. The direction called east is named through the rising of the sun. The repeated eastern markers make the boundary a place of orientation, not only a line on a map.
ALSO GROWS
zarach: to rise, shine
זָרַח
The verb supplies the image beneath the direction: the sun rising.
mizrach: sunrise, east
מִזְרָח
This related form joins the compass direction to the rising light.
בֵּית הַיְשִׁימוֹת
Beth ha-Yeshimoth
GROWS FROM
שמם
To become desolate or devastated.
“Beth-jeshimoth” in this verse is Beth ha-Yeshimoth. The place-name is commonly understood as “house of the wastes” or “house of desolations,” with its second element carrying the sense of desolation. The map label therefore holds a meaning English leaves hidden: desolation itself is given a precise place-name.
ALSO GROWS
yeshimon: wasteland, desert
יְשִׁימוֹן
This related form carries the desolate-land sense present in the place-name.
shemamah: desolation, waste
שְׁמָמָה
This branch makes explicit the desolation contained in the name’s word-family.
THE PATTERN
Scripture makes a place legible by tracing its limits through named landmarks.
And the border shall go down to Jordan, and the goings out of it shall be at the salt sea: this shall be your land with the coasts thereof round about.The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;THE THREAD
Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths.Joshua uses the same Hebrew word for the route toward a place that the Psalm uses for a way to be shown. The shared word holds a physical road and a course through life together.
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