What Does Joshua 17:18 Mean in the King James?
But the mountain shall be thine; for it is a wood, and thou shalt cut it down: and the outgoings of it shall be thine: for thou shalt drive out the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots, and though they be strong.
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 Hebrew root behind “drive out” also names inheritance, joining the dispossession of the occupants to the taking possession of the land.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks possession over a mountain that is still forested: its extent belongs with it, yet Canaanites with iron chariots occupy it. They are named as those to be driven out, and their strength is stated plainly; the claim and the force required to take it stand together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that visible force cancels the stated inheritance: the iron chariots and the occupants’ strength are named, and the mountain is still called yours. The verse leaves the dispossession in view instead of making possession sound unopposed.
THE ROOT
תּוֹרִישׁ
tōrîš
GROWS FROM
ירשׁ
y-r-sh
To take possession or inherit; in a causative form, to dispossess.
“drive out” in this verse is tōrîš. The root ירשׁ names both inheriting and dispossessing: in this verse, taking possession and driving out the occupants belong to the same verbal family. English separates these acts, while Hebrew links the displacement of the occupants with possession of the land.
ALSO GROWS
yārash: Take possession or inherit; in causative forms, dispossess.
יָרַשׁ
This verb family holds together the taking of the land and the removal named in the verse.
yerushah: Inheritance or possession.
יְרֻשָּׁה
This noun makes explicit the inheritance contained in the root behind “drive out.”
תּוֹצְאֹתָיו
totsa'otav
GROWS FROM
יצא
y-ts-ʾ
To go out, emerge, or come forth.
“Outgoings” comes from יצא, “to go out,” and names the mountain’s outward reaches or limits. The verse includes those extents in what belongs with the mountain.
ALSO GROWS
yatsa: Go out or come forth.
יָצָא
The same root gives “outgoings” its sense of what extends outward from the mountain.
motsa: An outlet or place of emergence.
מוֹצָא
This branch echoes the mountain’s outward limits and ways out, which the verse includes in its claim.
THE PATTERN
An inheritance is named before its possession is complete, with movement between the two.
Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them.And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.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” here comes from the same root, ירשׁ, as “drive out” in Joshua. The shared root reveals that the inheritance in this verse is bound to the dispossession it names.
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