What Does Joshua 18:3 Mean in the King James?
And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, How long are ye slack to go to possess the land, which the LORD God of your fathers hath given you?
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 root behind “slack” also appears in “Be still,” showing how loosening can be release, or delay that leaves a given inheritance untouched.
THE MEANING
This verse meets the reader in the gap between what is given and what is actually entered. The word translated “slack” pictures loosening or letting go; the same root can describe release, but here it names a delay that leaves the movement unfinished. The land is given, yet possessing it remains unrealized.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A gift can be truly given and still remain unentered; being promised is not the same as possessing.
THE ROOT
מִתְרַפִּים
mithrappim
GROWS FROM
רפה
To slacken, loosen, or let go.
The English “slack” can sound like simple laziness, but מִתְרַפִּים (mithrappim, “slack”) comes from רפה (raphah), which also yields הַרְפּוּ (harpu, “release” or “let go”), translated “Be still.” The shared root holds both a loosening that leaves a task undone and a loosening that releases a grip.
ALSO GROWS
harpu: A plural command to loosen or release.
הַרְפּוּ
Psalm 46:10 uses this form of the same root, showing that letting go can be a deliberate release.
mitrappeh: A person who lets their effort slacken.
מִתְרַפֶּה
Proverbs 18:9 uses this form for someone slack in their work, echoing the unfinished movement named here.
לָרֶשֶׁת
lareshet
GROWS FROM
ירשׁ
To take possession, inherit, or dispossess, according to context.
The verb translated “possess” also carries the sense of inheriting and occupying: what is given becomes a lived holding. Beside “slack,” it makes the tension precise, a granted inheritance can remain unoccupied.
ALSO GROWS
yarash: To take possession or receive an inheritance; in some contexts, to dispossess another.
יָרַשׁ
It shows that possession here is entry into an inheritance, not merely a gift being announced.
morashah: An inherited holding or possession.
מוֹרָשָׁה
This noun from the same root makes visible the inheritance contained in the command to possess.
יְהוֹשֻׁעַ
Yehoshua
GROWS FROM
ישע
To deliver, bring out, or rescue.
The name Yehoshua (יְהוֹשֻׁעַ, “Joshua”) carries the sense “YHWH delivers.” Here, that name stands beside land already given but not yet entered, joining deliverance with movement into what has been prepared.
ALSO GROWS
yasha: To deliver or rescue.
יָשַׁע
This verb supplies the deliverance meaning carried in Joshua’s name.
yeshuah: Rescue or deliverance.
יְשׁוּעָה
This noun from the same root names the deliverance that Joshua’s name evokes.
THE PATTERN
A gift may be given while entry into it still awaits a response.
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.Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.THE THREAD
Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.Joshua’s מִתְרַפִּים (mithrappim, “slack”) and the Psalm’s הַרְפּוּ (harpu, “be still” or “release”) both grow from רפה (raphah, “to slacken or let go”). In Joshua, the loosening leaves the inheritance unentered; in the Psalm, release opens into knowing God.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us