What Does Joshua 2:21 Mean in the King James?

And she said, According unto your words, so be it. And she sent them away, and they departed: and she bound the scarlet line in the window.

Joshua 2:21 · 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

In Hebrew, the cord Rahab ties is also called hope, making expectation visible at her window.

THE MEANING

A promise takes visible form: words are followed by release, and expectation is tied at the opening of a home. The Hebrew word for the line also means hope, so hope here is something held in place, not left abstract.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

Hope is only an inward feeling with no tangible form.

THE ROOT

תִּקְוַת

tiqvat

GROWS FROM

קוה

q-w-h

To wait for or expect; tiqvah also names a cord.

“line” in this verse is tiqvat. The word Rahab ties is tiqvah, a word that also means hope or expectation. Here, expectation becomes a cord fixed at the opening of her home.

ALSO GROWS

tiqvah: Cord; hope or expectation

תִּקְוָה

The same word names both the physical line in the window and the expectation it signifies.

qav: Line or measuring cord

קָו

This related line-word keeps the root’s concrete image of something stretched out and marked in place.

וַתְּשַׁלְּחֵם

vat'shalcheim

GROWS FROM

שלח

To send forth, release, or let go.

“sent them away” in this verse is vat'shalcheim. The verb carries the sense of release as well as sending. Rahab releases the messengers, they depart, and then she anchors the sign at her window.

ALSO GROWS

Shiloach: Sent waters; a pool or channel

שִׁלֹחַ

The name preserves the root’s outward movement, as water is sent forth.

shulchan: Table; provision extended

שֻׁלְחָן

This branch carries the image of something extended outward, echoing the root’s movement of sending forth.

THE PATTERN

A covenant promise becomes visible through a sign that marks what is held within it.

I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.

Genesis 9:13 · KJVThe bow makes the covenant visible in the sky, as Rahab’s cord makes the agreement visible at her window.

And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.

Exodus 12:13 · KJVA visible mark on a house identifies the household held within the promise of protection.

And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also:

Romans 4:11 · KJVThe sign serves as a visible seal of a promise that reaches beyond the person who first receives it.

THE THREAD

Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father’s household, home unto thee.

Joshua 2:18 · KJV

Joshua 2:18 names this same tiqvah as the scarlet line and identifies it as the agreed sign for Rahab’s household. Verse 21 shows her tying it in place: the word for hope becomes a visible cord at the window.

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