What Does Joshua 15:23 Mean in the King James?

And Kedesh, and Hazor, and Ithnan,

Joshua 15:23 · 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

This bare list carries meaning in its names: Kedesh bears set-apartness, Hazor suggests an enclosure or settlement, and Ithnan is commonly linked with giving.

THE MEANING

This line meets you as a list of places whose names carry traces of character: Kedesh is linked to set-apartness, Hazor to an enclosure or settlement, and Ithnan is often connected with giving. The verse leaves these names unexplained, so geography and meaning remain together without being forced into a story.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

A place-name is only a label, and a list of names has nothing to disclose.

THE ROOT

קֶדֶשׁ

Qedesh

GROWS FROM

קדש

q-d-sh

Set apart; sacred.

“Kedesh” in this verse is Qedesh. The place-name shares its root with words for set-apartness and sanctuary. Its Hebrew form carries a quality inside the geography, even though the verse does not explain why this place bears the name.

ALSO GROWS

qodesh: A sacred thing or sanctuary.

קֹדֶשׁ

This branch shows how Kedesh can carry the sense of a set-apart place.

qadosh: Set apart; sacred.

קָדוֹשׁ

This branch links the place-name to the quality of being set apart.

חָצוֹר

Hazor

GROWS FROM

חצר

ḥ-ṣ-r

Enclose or surround; an enclosed space.

Hazor shares its consonants with words for an enclosed court and a settlement. The English place-name hides that boundary-sense, leaving open the possibility of hearing the place as space gathered within limits.

ALSO GROWS

chatser: A court or enclosed space.

חָצֵר

This branch makes the enclosure-sense within Hazor audible.

chatserim: Villages or settlements.

חֲצֵרִים

This branch connects the root with inhabited places, as in the list of towns.

יִתְנָן

Yithnan

GROWS FROM

נתן

n-t-n

Give; set or place.

Ithnan is commonly associated with the root of giving, though this derivation is less certain than Kedesh’s. If that connection is intended, the place-name carries a sense of gift or what is given beneath its opaque English form.

ALSO GROWS

natan: To give, set, or place.

נָתַן

This branch supplies the proposed root behind Ithnan’s association with giving.

mattanah: A gift.

מַתָּנָה

This branch shows the gift-sense that may be carried in Ithnan’s name.

THE PATTERN

Scripture’s names can hold a nature or meaning inside the word that names a person or place.

And he called the name of that place Beth-el: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first.

Genesis 28:19 · KJVBethel means “house of God,” so the place’s identity is carried in its name.

And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah-nissi:

Exodus 17:15 · KJVThe name Jehovahnissi means “the LORD is my banner,” carrying the altar’s meaning in its name.

Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

Matthew 1:23 · KJVThe verse interprets Emmanuel as “God with us,” making the nature expressed by the name explicit.

THE THREAD

Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the LORD your God.

Leviticus 20:7 · KJV

Kedesh shares the Hebrew root ⁨קדש⁩ (q-d-sh), set apart, with the words translated “sanctify” and “holy” here. The place-name carries that same set-apartness, so a geographic label opens onto a quality.

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