What Does Joshua 6:2 Mean in the King James?
And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour.
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
Before Jericho falls, the verb already places the city, its king, and its fighters in Joshua’s hand.
THE MEANING
As you read, the declaration places what is not yet visible beside what is already given: Jericho, its king, and its fighting force all stand inside the sentence. The conquest remains concrete and forceful; the words do not turn the city’s capture into a metaphor. The outcome is named before it appears.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse overturns the assumption that an outcome can be spoken only after it becomes visible.
THE ROOT
נָתַתִּי
nātattî
GROWS FROM
נתן
give, set, place
The verb-form נָתַתִּי (nātattî, “I have given”) presents the city as already transferred while the action still lies ahead. Since this root also carries the sense of setting or placing, the line pictures the conquest as a placement into Joshua’s hand before it becomes visible.
ALSO GROWS
mattānāh: gift, present
מַתָּנָה
This noun from the same root keeps the act of giving audible: what the verse calls given is framed as an act of giving, not a victory Joshua manufactures.
nātûn: given, placed, assigned
נָתוּן
This form makes the root’s sense of placement explicit, echoing the image of Jericho placed into Joshua’s hand.
THE PATTERN
A declaration names what is given before visible circumstances display it.
Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.THE THREAD
Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.The Hebrew behind “have I made thee” shares the root נתן (n-t-n; natan, “give, set, place”). Joshua hears the city already given into his hand; Abram is named as already placed into a future identity. The shared root reveals a declaration of placement before visible fulfillment.
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