What Does Joshua 13:4 Mean in the King James?
From the south, all the land of the Canaanites, and Mearah that is beside the Sidonians, unto Aphek, to the borders of the Amorites:
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 inheritance is not an idea without edges: the verse names the peoples and stronghold that mark where its reach ends.
THE MEANING
This verse gives inheritance a definite shape: a southern reach, named neighboring peoples, and a boundary at the Amorites. Its limit is part of what makes its extent visible.
THE ROOT
גְּבוּל
gebul
GROWS FROM
גבל
To bound or mark a limit.
“borders” in this verse is gebul. The root gives “border” the force of defining a territory’s reach: Hebrew gebul can name both the boundary and the territory itself. Here, the inheritance becomes visible at the edge where its reach meets the Amorites.
ALSO GROWS
gabal: To bound or mark a limit.
גָּבַל
This verb names the action behind the boundary: the territory’s reach is marked.
gebulot: Boundaries or bounds.
גְּבוּלוֹת
This plural form appears in Deuteronomy 32:8, where the bounds of peoples are set around their inheritance.
THE PATTERN
An inheritance takes shape through boundaries that name its reach.
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:)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
When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.Joshua’s “borders” and Deuteronomy’s “bounds” come from the same Hebrew word family, גבול (gebul), meaning boundary or territory. The shared root ties the edge of the land to the way an inheritance takes shape.
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