What Does Joshua 6:26 Mean in the King James?
And Joshua adjured them at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before the LORD, that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho: he shall lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it.
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
The curse binds Jericho’s rebuilding to the loss of the builder’s sons, while Hebrew links the word for building (banah) with the word for son (ben).
THE MEANING
The verse curses the man who rebuilds Jericho before the LORD, assigning the city’s foundation to his firstborn and its gates to his youngest. It binds the city’s rebuilding to loss at both ends of the builder’s family.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that rebuilding a city is cost-free: here, the builder’s family bears the cost, from firstborn to youngest.
THE ROOT
אָרוּר
ʾārūr
GROWS FROM
ארר
ʾārar
To curse; to pronounce someone under a curse.
“Cursed” in this verse is ʾārūr. The curse is spoken before the LORD and attached to the man who rises to rebuild. The sentence reaches beyond the act itself: it names the loss that will mark his family and his work.
ALSO GROWS
ʾārar: To curse
אָרַר
The verb names the act behind the pronouncement: the man is placed under a curse for rebuilding.
meʾērāh: Curse, calamity
מְאֵרָה
This related noun shows the curse as a consequence that can come upon a person or household.
וּבָנָה
uvanah
GROWS FROM
בנה
bānāh
To build, establish.
“Buildeth” in this verse is uvanah. Hebrew links בָּנָה (banah), “to build,” with בֵּן (ben), “son.” That kinship sharpens the verse’s unsettling image: the building of the city and the loss of the builder’s sons are bound together in its wording.
ALSO GROWS
ben: Son
בֵּן
Its linguistic link with banah makes the sons named in the curse resonate with the act of building.
binyan: Building, structure
בִּנְיָן
This related form keeps the focus on what is constructed, the city whose foundations and gates are named through the sons.
יְיַסְּדֶנָּה
yĕyassĕdennāh
GROWS FROM
יסד
yāsad
To lay a foundation, establish.
“Lay the foundation” in this verse is yĕyassĕdennāh. The verse assigns the foundation to the firstborn and the gates to the youngest, placing family loss at the beginning and the outer boundary of the city’s structure. The architecture is described through the two ends of the builder’s family.
ALSO GROWS
yesōd: Foundation, basis
יְסוֹד
The related noun names the base on which a structure rests, the very place the verse assigns to the firstborn.
môsād: Foundation, support
מוֹסָד
This related form keeps the image of a city’s support tied to the cost named in the curse.
THE PATTERN
A spoken curse can reach both the land and a household, until a place’s rebuilding carries the cost.
And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand;Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.In his days did Hiel the Beth-elite build Jericho: he laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his firstborn, and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun.THE THREAD
In his days did Hiel the Beth-elite build Jericho: he laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his firstborn, and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun.This verse states what Joshua 6:26 pronounces: Hiel builds Jericho, and its foundation and gates are tied to his firstborn Abiram and youngest Segub. The repeated construction-and-sons language makes the curse concrete.
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