What Does Joshua 2:7 Mean in the King James?
And the men pursued after them the way to Jordan unto the fords: and as soon as they which pursued after them were gone out, they shut the gate.
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
Pursuit does not equal capture: the gate closes only after the pursuers have crossed out.
THE MEANING
The threat is concrete: men pursue, and the gate closes only once they are gone out. The verse holds the exact interval when their movement away lets those hidden inside remain beyond their reach.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being pursued means capture is already certain.
THE ROOT
רָדְפוּ
radəfū
GROWS FROM
רדף
רדף (radaph, to pursue or chase).
“pursued” in this verse is radəfū. The root רדף (radaph, to pursue) names the force of following, but does not make that force hostile by itself. Its object changes its character: the same root can describe goodness and faithful love pursuing someone.
ALSO GROWS
follow: Pursue; KJV renders the same verb as “follow.”
Goodness and faithful love take the pursuer’s role, showing that pursuit can mean care.
pursue peace: Pursue wholeness.
The same verb can name movement toward wholeness, not only a threat chasing someone.
סָגְרוּ
sāgĕrû
GROWS FROM
סגר
סגר (sagar, to shut, close, or enclose).
The root סגר (sagar, to shut) also appears in words for shutting a place and handing someone over. The gate is not background detail: its closure changes what the pursuers can reach.
ALSO GROWS
shut up: Closed or secured.
The same root describes Jericho as shut up, making closure an active condition.
deliver up: Hand someone over into another’s power.
A causative form of the root links closing someone in with delivering them into another hand.
יַרְדֵּן
Yardēn
GROWS FROM
ירד
ירד (yarad, to descend or go down).
Jordan’s name carries the sense “descender,” from ירד (yarad, to descend). The pursuit runs toward the river’s fords, places of crossing, so the scene brings movement to a boundary where crossing and closure decide who remains exposed.
ALSO GROWS
descend: Go down.
The root gives the river’s name a directional sense of downward movement.
come down: Descend from above.
The same root describes coming down onto the mountain, keeping the name’s sense grounded in physical descent.
THE PATTERN
Being pursued does not mean the pursuer controls the outcome.
And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them.Then the disciples took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket.Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;THE THREAD
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.The root רדף (radaph, pursue) behind “pursued” here also appears in the verb KJV renders “follow” in this psalm. Goodness and faithful love become the pursuers, showing that the object of pursuit turns the same force from threat into care.
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