What Does Joshua 19:50 Mean in the King James?

According to the word of the LORD they gave him the city which he asked, even Timnath-serah in mount Ephraim: and he built the city, and dwelt therein.

Joshua 19:50 · 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

The request does not end when it is granted: the asked-for place becomes a built and inhabited life.

THE MEANING

Your request is not only a want held inwardly: what is received can become a real place to inhabit. The verse holds gift and participation together, what is given takes shape through building and dwelling.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It loosens the assumption that a granted answer is complete as an abstraction; here, what is granted becomes a built and inhabited place.

THE ROOT

שָׁאַל

sha’al

GROWS FROM

שאל

Ask, request, inquire.

The English “asked” comes from ⁨שׁאל⁩ (sha’al, ask or request), also present in ⁨שְׁאֵלָה⁩ (she’elah, request) and ⁨שָׁאוּל⁩ (sha’ul, asked-for). Here the request does not remain an idea: it becomes a city he builds and inhabits.

ALSO GROWS

she’elah: Request

שְׁאֵלָה

The request shares the same ⁨שׁאל⁩ root, linking the act of asking with the thing asked for.

sha’ul: Asked-for; also the name Saul

שָׁאוּל

This form from the same root carries the sense of something sought by asking.

וַיֵּשֶׁב

va-yeshev

GROWS FROM

ישב

Sit, remain, dwell.

“dwelt” in this verse is va-yeshev. The root ⁨ישב⁩ (yashav, sit, remain, dwell) holds settling and dwelling in one verb. The endpoint is more than receiving a location: it is remaining there, making the granted place a lived home.

ALSO GROWS

yoshev: One who dwells; an inhabitant

יֹשֵׁב

This form shares the root and describes someone settled in a place.

moshav: Dwelling place; settlement

מוֹשָׁב

This noun from the same root names a place where people settle.

THE PATTERN

What is asked and given takes form as a place that can be built and inhabited.

In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee.

1 Kings 3:5 · KJVThe request and the gift are joined in one invitation, as asking opens toward something received.

A Song of degrees for Solomon. Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

Psalm 127:1 · KJVThe verse brings building and dwelling under the same sustaining gift that makes a place livable.

In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

John 14:2 · KJVA prepared place becomes a dwelling, echoing the movement from what is given to where one can live.

THE THREAD

Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.

Psalm 2:8 · KJV

The Psalm’s “Ask” is ⁨שְׁאַל⁩ (she’al, ask), from the same ⁨שׁאל⁩ (sha’al, ask or request) root as Joshua’s “asked.” In both verses, asking opens toward something concrete that can be received: inheritance in the Psalm, and a city to build and inhabit in Joshua.

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