What Does Joshua 14:12 Mean in the King James?
Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the LORD spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakims were there, and that the cities were great and fenced: if so be the LORD will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the LORD said.
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
Hebrew uses the same root for “drive them out” and “inherit”: here the promised mountain and the removal of its inhabitants are bound together in possession.
THE MEANING
You encounter a promise that does not erase its resistance: the mountain is inhabited, its cities are fortified, and taking it means driving people out. The verse locates Caleb’s ability in the LORD’s presence while leaving the violence of dispossession in plain view.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that divine presence makes every promised outcome easy or harmless: the verse names fortified cities and the expulsion of the Anakim outright.
THE ROOT
וְהוֹרַשְׁתִּים
wə-hôrāštîm
GROWS FROM
י־ר־שׁ
y-r-sh
To take possession or inherit; in the causative form here, to dispossess.
English gives separate verbs to inheriting land and driving its current inhabitants away; Hebrew traces “drive them out” to ירשׁ (y-r-sh), the root of taking possession or inheriting. The verse does not separate the promised possession from the expulsion it entails.
ALSO GROWS
yāraš: Inherit or take possession; in some contexts, dispossess.
יָרַשׁ
This is the root’s basic verbal form, joining possession and displacement in one word family.
hôrîš: Dispossess or drive out.
הוֹרִישׁ
This causative form is the one used for Caleb’s stated action in the verse.
môrāšāh: Possession or inheritance.
מוֹרָשָׁה
This noun shows the same root describing what is received as an inheritance.
תְּנָה־לִּי
tenāh-lî
GROWS FROM
נ־ת־ן
n-t-n
To give, set, or place.
“give” in this verse is tenāh-lî. The request uses a verb whose range includes setting or placing as well as giving. Caleb asks for a particular mountain to be placed in his possession, and the next clause names the difficult means by which it will be occupied.
ALSO GROWS
mattānāh: Gift or present.
מַתָּנָה
This noun from the same root carries the sense of what is given.
netīnāh: Giving or donation.
נְתִינָה
This form makes the act of giving itself visible within the root family.
THE PATTERN
A promised portion can remain difficult to possess while the text locates its fulfillment beyond human force alone.
And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them.Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,THE THREAD
And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.“Inherit” in Genesis and “drive them out” in Joshua both draw on י־ר־שׁ (y-r-sh). The shared root holds the promise of possession together with the expulsion of those already living on the land.
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