What Does Joshua 15:48 Mean in the King James?

And in the mountains, Shamir, and Jattir, and Socoh,

Joshua 15:48 · 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

Jattir is linked to the root for what remains or abounds, so even this bare list carries a trace of surplus.

THE MEANING

The verse makes belonging concrete in particular terrain: these mountain towns have names, not just coordinates. Jattir carries a name linked to what remains or abounds, placing a quiet trace of abundance among the listed places. Here, place is part of how life is held and located.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the idea that belonging is only an abstraction, without any need for particular ground.

THE ROOT

יַתִּיר

Yattir

GROWS FROM

יתר

y-t-r

To remain, be left over, or exceed.

Jattir is linked to this root and is often glossed with the sense of abundance. English leaves it as an opaque place-name, while the Hebrew connection preserves the idea of what remains or exceeds within the mountain list.

ALSO GROWS

yāṯar: Remain, be left over, exceed.

יָתַר

This verb roots Jattir in the idea of what remains or is more than required.

yitrôn: Profit, advantage, surplus.

יִתְרוֹן

This branch carries the root’s sense of something left over or gained, letting Jattir’s name hold more than a geographic label.

THE PATTERN

Inheritance becomes tangible when it is attached to named places and actual bounds.

Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.

Genesis 13:17 · KJVThe promise takes the shape of ground that can be crossed in length and breadth.

And Jattir with her suburbs, and Eshtemoa with her suburbs,

Joshua 21:14 · KJVThe named place is shown with its surrounding settlements, making belonging spatially specific.

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 life is described through actual bounds of habitation, making place part of how people are held on the earth.

THE THREAD

And Jattir with her suburbs, and Eshtemoa with her suburbs,

Joshua 21:14 · KJV

Jattir appears again alongside its suburbs, connecting the mountain town to a wider pattern of settled space. The repeated name makes this place more than a point on a list: its surrounding ground belongs in the picture too.

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