What Does Joshua 18:18 Mean in the King James?

And passed along toward the side over against Arabah northward, and went down unto Arabah:

Joshua 18:18 · 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

What looks like a fixed border is voiced through crossing and descent, locating the boundary in the land itself.

THE MEANING

This verse traces a boundary along the side facing Arabah, northward, then down into the Arabah. Direction and terrain make the place legible one movement at a time.

THE ROOT

וְעָבַר

veʿāvar

GROWS FROM

עבר

to cross over, pass through, or go beyond

“passed along” in this verse is veʿāvar. The verb’s seed is crossing or passing beyond, so the boundary is voiced as movement through the land rather than a static mark. Its word family joins the act of crossing with the far side reached by crossing.

ALSO GROWS

ʿēver: the other side; beyond

עֵבֶר

The same root that marks passage also names the far side, joining the route to the place it reaches.

maʿavār: a crossing; a passage

מַעֲבָר

This noun makes the crossing itself a place or way through, echoing how the boundary is traced as a route.

וְיָרַד

veyārad

GROWS FROM

ירד

to descend or go down

“went down” in this verse is veyārad. The route is defined by a drop in elevation as well as by its direction. The same root can name descending or causing something to descend, so the land’s changing level is part of how this boundary is described.

ALSO GROWS

yeridah: a descent; going down

יְרִידָה

It names the downward movement embedded in the route.

horid: to bring down; lower

הוֹרִיד

This causative form shows the root extending from going down to lowering something, keeping the change in level at the center.

THE PATTERN

A route becomes legible through named places, direction, and movement across the terrain.

And the border compassed from Baalah westward unto mount Seir, and passed along unto the side of mount Jearim, which is Chesalon, on the north side, and went down to Beth-shemesh, and passed on to Timnah:

Joshua 15:10 · KJVThe boundary is traced through named landmarks, with the same movements of passing along and going down.

And your border shall turn from the south to the ascent of Akrabbim, and pass on to Zin: and the going forth thereof shall be from the south to Kadesh-barnea, and shall go on to Hazar-addar, and pass on to Azmon:

Numbers 34:4 · KJVThe border turns, ascends, and passes through named points, unfolding as a route rather than an abstract line.

Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia,

Acts 16:6 · KJVThe verse locates movement through named regions and a barred direction, showing a route shaped by both passage and limits.

THE THREAD

And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.

Genesis 12:6 · KJV

“Passed through” uses the same Hebrew root, ⁨עבר⁩, as “passed along” here. In both verses, crossing through named ground makes the route, and the land it traverses, visible.

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