What Does Joshua 13:11 Mean in the King James?

And Gilead, and the border of the Geshurites and Maachathites, and all mount Hermon, and all Bashan unto Salcah;

Joshua 13:11 · 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

The border is not separate from the inheritance: its edges make the territory a knowable portion.

THE MEANING

Your inheritance is not a blur: it takes visible shape through named places and a reach with an edge. Gilead (⁨גִּלְעָד⁩, Gilʿād, “heap of witness”) carries testimony in its name, while Hermon, Bashan, and Salcah make the territory’s extent concrete.

THE ROOT

גְּבוּל

gebul

GROWS FROM

גבל

g-b-l

To mark out or set a boundary.

“border” in this verse is gebul. The same root can name both a boundary and the territory it bounds. English separates the edge from the land; Hebrew holds them together as one shape.

ALSO GROWS

gābal: to set bounds

גָּבַל

This verb appears in Exodus 19:12 for setting a boundary around the mountain, showing the root’s active sense of marking an edge.

gebulah: territory, region

גְּבוּלָה

This related noun names bounded land itself, linking the border in this verse to the portion it defines.

THE PATTERN

A portion becomes knowable as its bounds are named.

Command the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land of Canaan; (this is the land that shall fall unto you for an inheritance, even the land of Canaan with the coasts thereof:)

Numbers 34:2 · KJVThe inheritance is defined by naming its coasts, giving its extent a visible shape.

The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.

Psalm 16:6 · KJVThe lines marking a portion make the heritage distinct and recognizable.

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;

Acts 17:26 · KJVHuman habitation, too, is described through bounds that give it a defined place.

THE THREAD

Command the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land of Canaan; (this is the land that shall fall unto you for an inheritance, even the land of Canaan with the coasts thereof:)

Numbers 34:2 · KJV

The Hebrew word translated “coasts” comes from the same root as “border” here: ⁨גְּבוּל⁩ (gebul), boundary or territory. Numbers names the contours of the inheritance, while Joshua traces those contours through specific places.

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