What Does Joshua 23:6 Mean in the King James?
Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that ye turn not aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left;
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
Here, courage is the firmness that guards instruction and carries it into action without veering to either side.
THE MEANING
The verse addresses you as someone who can be made firm enough to guard the instruction and give it form in action. Courage here is steadiness on the whole path, without letting either side pull you away.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that courage means freedom from boundaries: here courage is the strength to remain with the instruction without veering either way.
THE ROOT
וַחֲזַקְתֶּם
vaḥazaqtem
GROWS FROM
חזק
חזק (ḥ-z-q): to be firm or strong, to strengthen.
The word rendered “courageous” carries the sense of firmness and strength. Here that firmness moves directly into guarding and doing: it becomes the capacity to hold the instruction and embody it without veering.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāzāq: Strong or firm.
חָזָק
This related form makes the firmness inside “courageous” visible.
ḥizzēq: Strengthened or made firm.
חִזֵּק
Its causative sense shows that strength can be something received and sustained, not only displayed.
לִשְׁמֹר
lishmor
GROWS FROM
שמר
שמר (sh-m-r): to guard, watch, or keep.
“Keep” carries the image of watchfulness: the instruction is held in attention, like something guarded. The same root can name guarding the reader too, joining keeping the way with being kept.
ALSO GROWS
shomer: One who watches over or guards.
שֹׁמֵר
This branch reveals the active attention contained in keeping the instruction.
mishmeret: A watch, duty, or entrusted charge.
מִשְׁמֶרֶת
The instruction is something held as a charge, not merely heard and left behind.
לַעֲשׂוֹת
la‘asot
GROWS FROM
עשׂה
עשׂה (‘-ś-h): to do or make.
The root of “do” also gives words for a deed or work: what is kept takes shape in what you make and enact. The verse joins attention to instruction with its visible form in action.
ALSO GROWS
ma‘aseh: An act, deed, or work.
מַעֲשֶׂה
This branch shows instruction taking form as something done.
‘oseh: One who acts or makes.
עֹשֶׂה
The same root links the act with the one whose life gives it form.
THE PATTERN
The path stays whole when instruction is guarded in attention and carried into action.
Ye shall observe to do therefore as the LORD your God hath commanded you: ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.THE THREAD
The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.Joshua’s “keep” and the psalm’s “preserve” are forms of שׁמר (shamar, to guard or watch). One root holds both the reader’s guarding of instruction and the LORD’s guarding of the reader, joining steadfastness and protection in the same image.
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