What Does Joshua 2:24 Mean in the King James?
And they said unto Joshua, Truly the LORD hath delivered into our hands all the land; for even all the inhabitants of the country do faint because of us.
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 is spoken of as already set into the hand while its inhabitants are pictured not just losing heart but melting away.
THE MEANING
Here, possession and terror appear together: the land is spoken of as given into one people’s hand, while its inhabitants are losing heart before them. The declaration of a gift does not erase the fear of those living on that land.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that a gift is only real once every obstacle has vanished: the land is called given while its inhabitants are still present and afraid.
THE ROOT
נָמֹגוּ
nāmōgū
GROWS FROM
מוג
m-w-g
To melt or dissolve; by extension, to lose heart or become faint.
The English faint retains the emotional effect, while the Hebrew adds the physical picture of melting or dissolving. That picture recurs for the inhabitants of Canaan in Exodus 15:15, making fear here feel like solidity giving way.
ALSO GROWS
nāmōgū: They melted away (Joshua 2:9).
נָמֹגוּ
The same word describes the inhabitants’ fear earlier in Rahab’s report, giving that fear the image of melting.
nāmōg: Is dissolved (Isaiah 14:31).
נָמוֹג
Here the same root describes a whole people as dissolved, showing its reach beyond an individual feeling.
נָתַן
nātan
GROWS FROM
נתן
n-t-n
To give, set, or place.
The verb behind delivered is nātan, whose basic sense is to give, set, or place. The verse portrays the land as placed into a hand; possession is declared as an act of receiving.
ALSO GROWS
mattān: Gift or present.
מַתָּן
The noun keeps the root’s act visible: what is given can be held as a gift.
mattanāh: Gift or granted portion.
מַתָּנָה
This branch likewise names what comes through giving, echoing the land described as given into a hand.
THE PATTERN
Giving is pictured as placement: what is received is already set before the hand.
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.The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.THE THREAD
Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed; the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them; all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away.The closing words use the same root מוג (m-w-g) as do faint here. Exodus says the inhabitants of Canaan melt away; Joshua’s wording lets you hear their fear as dissolution, not just low morale.
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