What Does Joshua 6:13 Mean in the King James?

And seven priests bearing seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the LORD went on continually, and blew with the trumpets: and the armed men went before them; but the rereward came after the ark of the LORD, the priests going on, and blowing with the trumpets.

Joshua 6:13 · 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

Repeated walking and trumpet sound turn the armed procession around the ark into one continuous advance.

THE MEANING

You meet an armed procession: fighters lead, priests keep walking and sounding the rams’ horns before the ark, and the rear guard follows it. The repeated motion holds the scene in one sustained advance, with the ark within the formation.

THE ROOT

הֹלְכִים הָלוֹךְ

holekhim halokh

GROWS FROM

הלך

to walk, go, or move along

“went on continually” in this verse is holekhim halokh. The Hebrew pairs ⁨הֹלְכִים⁩ (holekhim, “walking”) with ⁨הָלוֹךְ⁩ (halokh, “going”), then repeats ⁨הָלוֹךְ⁩ with the trumpet sound later in the verse. That repeated ⁨הלך⁩ root makes the walking sustained, while the repeated phrase keeps the movement alongside the sounding horns.

ALSO GROWS

holekhim: Those moving along; the participle form of ⁨הלך⁩ (halakh, “to walk or go”).

הֹלְכִים

It names the priests’ movement before the ark.

halokh: The infinitive absolute form of ⁨הלך⁩ (halakh, “to walk or go”), used here to intensify or continue the action.

הָלוֹךְ

It follows the walking form and recurs with the trumpet blowing, giving the procession’s motion a sustained cadence.

THE PATTERN

The ark moves through a public procession whose direction and sound mark its passage.

And they departed from the mount of the LORD three days’ journey: and the ark of the covenant of the LORD went before them in the three days’ journey, to search out a resting place for them.

Numbers 10:33 · KJVThe ark leads the people’s journey, giving the procession its direction.

So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet.

2 Samuel 6:15 · KJVThe ark’s movement is accompanied by the people’s shout and trumpet sound.

Thus all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the LORD with shouting, and with sound of the cornet, and with trumpets, and with cymbals, making a noise with psalteries and harps.

1 Chronicles 15:28 · KJVThe ark’s passage is made audible through an ordered procession of people and instruments.

THE THREAD

And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.

Genesis 5:24 · KJV

Joshua repeats ⁨הלך⁩ (halakh, “walk or go”) for the priests’ bodily movement, and Genesis uses that same root for Enoch’s walk with God. The shared root joins a communal procession to an individual way of moving with God.

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