What Does Joshua 15:33 Mean in the King James?

And in the valley, Eshtaol, and Zoreah, and Ashnah,

Joshua 15:33 · 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

“In the valley” names the Shephelah, the lowland whose Hebrew name carries the sense of lowered ground.

THE MEANING

The verse places Eshtaol, Zorah, and Ashnah in the lowland. Here the terrain is part of the naming: these towns belong to a specific stretch of lower ground.

THE ROOT

בַּשְּׁפֵלָה

ba-shephelah

GROWS FROM

שפל

sh-p-l

To be low or lowered; ⁨שְׁפֵלָה⁩ (shephelah) means lowland.

The KJV’s “valley” points to the Shephelah, a named lowland region, from ⁨שפל⁩, “to be low.” The same root can name lowered terrain or the act of bringing something low, joining place and movement in one word family.

ALSO GROWS

shaphal: To be low or become low.

שָׁפַל

The root’s basic sense describes the low ground named in the verse.

hishpil: To lower or bring low.

הִשְׁפִּיל

The same root shifts from naming a condition to describing an action.

shephelah: Lowland or low country.

שְׁפֵלָה

This is the regional term used in the verse for the ground where these towns lie.

THE PATTERN

Scripture treats low ground as lived terrain: it is crossed, filled with a scene, and reshaped.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Psalm 23:4 · KJVThe valley is terrain the speaker passes through, not a blank abstraction.

The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones,

Ezekiel 37:1 · KJVThe valley holds a concrete scene, with the place itself shaping what is seen there.

Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth;

Luke 3:5 · KJVLow ground becomes part of a landscape being reshaped into a level way.

THE THREAD

Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:

Isaiah 40:4 · KJV

The same ⁨שפל⁩ (sh-p-l), “to be low,” root that names the Shephelah appears in “shall be made low.” Here the root moves from geography into action as the surrounding verse raises valleys and lowers hills.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us