What Does Joshua 21:12 Mean in the King James?
But the fields of the city, and the villages thereof, gave they to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession.
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 word “possession” grows from the verb “to hold,” making Caleb’s inheritance ground he can actually hold.
THE MEANING
The verse places a specific inheritance before you: fields and villages assigned to Caleb, distinct from the city. A gift takes concrete shape as ground someone can hold.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that a city and its surrounding land are one inseparable grant: the fields and villages are named as Caleb’s distinct possession.
THE ROOT
בַּאֲחֻזָּתוֹ
baʾăḥuzzātô
GROWS FROM
אחז
to grasp, take hold, or hold
The word for Caleb’s possession is formed from the language of holding. English can make an inheritance sound like an abstract entitlement; this root presents it as ground held in a person’s keeping.
ALSO GROWS
ʾōḥezeṯ: taking hold
אֹחֶזֶת
In Genesis 25:26, this form describes Jacob’s hand taking hold of Esau’s heel, giving the root a bodily, graspable sense.
ʾăḥuzzāh: possession, property
אֲחֻזָּה
This noun names the holding itself, the same kind of possession given to Caleb here.
נָתְנוּ
natenu
GROWS FROM
נתן
to give, set, or place
“gave” in this verse is natenu. The verb for giving can also carry the sense of setting or placing. Here the giving is a concrete allocation: land is placed in Caleb’s keeping.
ALSO GROWS
nātan: to give, set, place
נָתַן
This is the root verb; its range joins giving with the act of placing something in someone’s hands.
mattānāh: gift
מַתָּנָה
This related noun shows what is given as a gift, while the verse identifies the gift as specific land.
THE PATTERN
What is promised as inheritance takes shape as a named place given to be held.
And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on: yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child.And Joshua blessed him, and gave unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh Hebron for an inheritance.THE THREAD
And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.Both verses use אֲחֻזָּה (ʾăḥuzzāh, possession), from אחז (ʾ-ḥ-z, to hold). Genesis names the land promised to Abraham and his seed; Joshua shows that holding made specific in the fields and villages assigned to Caleb.
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