What Does Joshua 17:3 Mean in the King James?

But Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, had no sons, but daughters: and these are the names of his daughters, Mahlah, and Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.

Joshua 17:3 · 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.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

When the expected sons are absent, the line does not become nameless: five daughters carry it forward by name.

THE MEANING

A family line can remain present without sons. The five daughters are named individually, each kept visible in the family record.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

A line without sons has no descendants worth naming.

THE ROOT

נֹעָה

No'ah

GROWS FROM

נוע

nua

To move, sway, or be set in motion.

The KJV spelling “Noah” hides that this daughter’s Hebrew name is ⁨נֹעָה⁩ (No’ah, “movement”), from ⁨נוע⁩ (nua, “to move”). It is distinct from ⁨נֹחַ⁩ (Noach, “rest”), the name of Noah in Genesis; the English spelling folds two names with different roots together.

ALSO GROWS

nua: To move or sway.

נוּעַ

This verb shares the movement root carried by No’ah’s name.

tenu'ah: Movement or motion.

תְּנוּעָה

This noun makes the movement within No’ah’s name visible as a root family.

THE PATTERN

Naming keeps an individual distinct and recognizable within a larger story or group.

And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be.

Genesis 17:15 · KJVSarai is named in her own right, and the text preserves the change in her name.

Wherefore it came to pass, when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived, that she bare a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the LORD.

1 Samuel 1:20 · KJVHannah’s naming ties Samuel’s name to the particular story carried in his birth.

To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.

John 10:3 · KJVThe call by name recognizes each one within the flock.

THE THREAD

The daughters of Zelophehad speak right: thou shalt surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father’s brethren; and thou shalt cause the inheritance of their father to pass unto them.

Numbers 27:7 · KJV

Joshua 17:3 gives the five women their names; Numbers 27:7 gives their claim an outcome, saying the inheritance passes to them. The absence of sons does not erase their place in the family line.

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