What Does Joshua 16:7 Mean in the King James?
And it went down from Janohah to Ataroth, and to Naarath, and came to Jericho, and went out at Jordan.
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 boundary descends toward the Jordan, whose name carries the same root, so even its endpoint echoes the motion that draws the line.
THE MEANING
This verse makes the border visible as a moving line: it descends from Janohah, passes named places, reaches Jericho, and goes out at the Jordan. The final landmark echoes the descent that shapes the route.
THE ROOT
וְיָרַד
wə-yārad
GROWS FROM
ירד
y-r-d
To descend or go down.
“went down” in this verse is wə-yārad. The verb for the boundary’s descent and the name Jordan share this root. English presents one as an action and the other as a place name, while the Hebrew lets the endpoint echo the route’s movement.
ALSO GROWS
Yardēn: Jordan; traditionally understood as “the descender.”
יַרְדֵּן
The river’s name carries the same descent associated with the boundary’s movement toward it.
hōrīd: Bring down; cause to descend.
הוֹרִיד
This related form shows the root can name both going downward and causing something to move down.
THE PATTERN
Scripture makes the shape of land visible by naming its edges and landmarks.
In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:And the border shall go down to Jordan, and the goings out of it shall be at the salt sea: this shall be your land with the coasts thereof round about.And the east side ye shall measure from Hauran, and from Damascus, and from Gilead, and from the land of Israel by Jordan, from the border unto the east sea. And this is the east side.THE THREAD
And the border went over from thence toward Luz, to the side of Luz, which is Beth-el, southward; and the border descended to Ataroth-adar, near the hill that lieth on the south side of the nether Beth-horon.Both verses use the same root for the boundary’s descent. Here the route moves toward the Jordan, whose name echoes that descent; Joshua 18:13 uses the same verb to mark another turn in the line.
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