What Does Joshua 22:18 Mean in the King James?

But that ye must turn away this day from following the LORD? and it will be, seeing ye rebel to day against the LORD, that to morrow he will be wroth with the whole congregation of Israel.

Joshua 22:18 · 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

The verse makes today’s turning from following the LORD a danger the whole congregation may bear tomorrow.

THE MEANING

When you turn from following the LORD and rebel against him, the consequence reaches beyond the turning group: the whole congregation stands under the anger named here. Today’s rupture can become tomorrow’s communal burden.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The belief that turning from God affects only the one who turns dissolves here: the verse names the whole congregation as bearing the consequence.

THE ROOT

תִּשְׁבוּן

tishuvun

GROWS FROM

שׁוב

to turn or return

“turn away” in this verse is tishuvun. The Hebrew pairs ⁨תִּשְׁבוּן⁩ (tishuvun, you turn) with ⁨מֵאַחֲרֵי⁩ (me’acharei, from behind or after) the LORD: the turning has a direction, away from the one being followed. The same root can also name return, so the word holds the motion itself while the surrounding phrase shows where it leads here.

ALSO GROWS

shuv: turn, return

שׁוּב

This root verb shows that turning can describe movement away or a return; the verse’s surrounding words make this turn a departure from following the LORD.

teshuvah: return, turning back

תְּשׁוּבָה

This noun from the same root carries the possibility of turning back, revealing that the verse’s movement is directional rather than fixed: here it turns away, but the root also names return.

THE PATTERN

A community is bound together closely enough that the act or condition of one part can reach the whole.

But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing: for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against the children of Israel.

Joshua 7:1 · KJVAchan’s taking is charged to Israel, and the anger named in the verse reaches the children of Israel.

And they fell upon their faces, and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and wilt thou be wroth with all the congregation?

Numbers 16:22 · KJVThe question makes explicit the shared stakes: one person’s sin may bring the whole congregation under wrath.

And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.

1 Corinthians 12:26 · KJVThe body’s members share one another’s suffering and joy, showing how what reaches one part reaches the whole.

THE THREAD

Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood;

Deuteronomy 29:18 · KJV

This verse uses the same root, ⁨שׁוב⁩ (shuv, turn or return), for a heart turning from the LORD. It traces that turning within a person, family, or tribe, while Joshua 22:18 shows how its consequences can reach the whole congregation.

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