What Does Joshua 18:8 Mean in the King James?
And the men arose, and went away: and Joshua charged them that went to describe the land, saying, Go and walk through the land, and describe it, and come again to me, that I may here cast lots for you before the LORD in Shiloh.
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 land’s allotment waits for a written account made by walking its ground.
THE MEANING
What you are to receive becomes legible through contact: you walk its contours, write them down, and bring the record before the division. The lot follows a landscape made known by footsteps and writing.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that a share can be assigned from an impression alone; its contours first have to be encountered and recorded.
THE ROOT
וְהִתְהַלְּכוּ
wəhit'halləḵū
GROWS FROM
הלך
to go, walk, or proceed
The command uses the root הלך (halakh, go or walk) twice: first “Go,” then “walk through.” The repeated root makes the movement itself part of knowing the land; the account begins with traversing its ground.
ALSO GROWS
lekh: Go; proceed.
לֵךְ
This same-root command begins the sequence, joining departure to the later, more thorough walk.
hithallēkh: Walk around or through.
הִתְהַלֵּךְ
This form describes moving across the land itself, so the survey is grounded in contact with its contours.
וְכִתְבוּ
wəḵiṯəḇū
GROWS FROM
כתב
to write or inscribe
The Hebrew verb translated “describe” comes from כתב (k-t-v), “write.” The land’s description takes written form: what is encountered by walking becomes a record before its portions are assigned.
ALSO GROWS
kāṯaḇ: Write or inscribe.
כָּתַב
This is the verb’s root form and makes clear that the survey is recorded, not only spoken.
mikhtāv: A written document or message.
מִכְתָּב
This related word shows how the root gives written form to something that can be carried and consulted.
THE PATTERN
What is to be entered or assigned becomes knowable through examination before the decision is made.
And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain:For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field; and afterwards build thine house.THE THREAD
Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.Both verses use the root הלך (halakh, go or walk) for moving through the land. Genesis names its length and breadth; Joshua makes the walked ground into a written account before the shares are assigned.
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