What Does Joshua 5:15 Mean in the King James?

And the captain of the LORD’s host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.

Joshua 5:15 · 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 ground beneath Joshua is named as set apart, and the shoe between his foot and that ground comes off.

THE MEANING

The ground beneath you is set apart where the LORD’s presence meets you. Joshua removes his shoe and stands on that ground as it is named holy.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

Holiness belongs only to designated religious buildings; here, the ground beneath a person is called holy.

THE ROOT

קֹדֶשׁ

qodesh

GROWS FROM

קדשׁ

q-d-sh

Set apart, made distinct for the sacred.

“holy” in this verse is qodesh. The Hebrew word names set-apartness, and the same root forms words for what is set apart and the place set apart for it. Here that word describes the ground itself: the sacred is present beneath Joshua’s feet, not only in a distant sanctuary.

ALSO GROWS

qadosh: Set apart; sacred.

קָדוֹשׁ

This adjective shares the root and describes the quality attributed to the ground.

miqdash: Sanctuary; a set-apart place.

מִקְדָּשׁ

The sanctuary is a place formed from the same root as the holiness named here, linking sacred place with sacred ground.

מָקוֹם

maqom

GROWS FROM

קום

q-w-m

Rise, stand, or be established.

Maqom, “place,” comes from a root of rising and standing. Beside the word for Joshua standing, it presents the holy place as the very ground under a body, rather than an abstract location.

ALSO GROWS

qum: Rise; stand.

קוּם

This verb carries the standing sense at the root of the word for place.

heqim: Raise; establish.

הֵקִים

This form shares the root and shows how what rises can also be established in a place.

THE PATTERN

When the LORD’s presence is disclosed, a place ordinary in appearance is recognized as set apart.

And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.

Exodus 3:5 · KJVThe same command to remove shoes reveals the ground beneath a person’s feet as holy.

And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not.

Genesis 28:16 · KJVThe LORD’s presence makes the place recognizable as more than it first appeared.

Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

1 Corinthians 3:16 · KJVThe same pattern reaches the reader’s own embodied life, named as a place where God’s presence dwells.

THE THREAD

And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.

Exodus 3:5 · KJV

The command and its reason mirror Joshua’s verse: remove the shoes because the ground where one stands is holy. Together, the verses show set-apartness meeting a person at the ground beneath their feet.

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