What Does Joshua 22:14 Mean in the King James?
And with him ten princes, of each chief house a prince throughout all the tribes of Israel; and each one was an head of the house of their fathers among the thousands of Israel.
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 prince is one lifted up to carry a people’s voice, with each tribe and household still distinct.
THE MEANING
The verse gives you a picture of belonging in layers: a household has a head, each tribe has a voice, and the people stand together through their representatives. The whole is held together without erasing the distinct households within it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that a community is one undifferentiated mass: here the whole is represented through distinct houses and tribes.
THE ROOT
נָשִׂיא
nasi
GROWS FROM
נשא
nasa
to lift, carry, or bear
The word for prince is linked to the root meaning to lift or carry: the person raised up is also pictured as bearing something for others. English gives the title of rank; the Hebrew root opens a picture of representation as carrying a people.
ALSO GROWS
nasa: to lift, carry, or bear
נָשָׂא
This is the root verb behind the prince’s title, linking being raised up with carrying.
massa: a burden or load
מַשָּׂא
This branch makes the carrying tangible: the representative stands with the weight of a household and tribe.
THE PATTERN
A people’s voice travels through chosen representatives who remain rooted in their households and community.
And with you there shall be a man of every tribe; every one head of the house of his fathers.And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren:THE THREAD
That the princes of Israel, heads of the house of their fathers, who were the princes of the tribes, and were over them that were numbered, offered:Numbers names the princes as both heads of their fathers’ houses and princes of the tribes, showing the same layered representation found here. The shared word נָשִׂיא (nasi, prince) carries the root sense of lifting and bearing: the one raised up stands for a people.
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