What Does Joshua 7:13 Mean in the King James?
Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow: for thus saith the LORD God of Israel, There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you.
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 verse opens with “Rise” and then says you cannot “stand”: Hebrew uses the same root for both, tying the call to rise directly to what blocks it.
THE MEANING
The command to rise meets a hard limit: you cannot stand before what confronts you while the thing under the ban remains in your midst. The people are set apart for the coming day, and the breach is named as something that must be taken from among them.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a call to rise or communal preparation can restore strength while the named breach remains in the midst.
THE ROOT
קוּם
qûm
GROWS FROM
קום
To rise, stand, or be established.
“Up / stand” in this verse is qûm. “Up” at the start and “stand” later are forms of the same verb. The verse binds the command to rise to the inability to stand: the call is present, but the people’s standing is blocked until the thing among them is removed.
ALSO GROWS
qûm: Rise; stand.
קוּם
This is the opening command, “Up.”
lāqûm: To rise; to stand.
לָקוּם
This is the same root in “thou canst not stand,” making the verse’s repeated movement visible.
חֵרֶם
ḥērem
GROWS FROM
חרם
To ban or devote; in this setting, to devote to destruction.
“Accursed thing” in this verse is ḥērem. Here, ḥērem names an object under the ban, devoted to destruction. The verse locates it “in the midst” of the people, joining its status and its presence to their inability to stand.
ALSO GROWS
ḥērem: A thing devoted under the ban.
חֵרֶם
This is the word translated “accursed thing,” naming the prohibited object among the people.
heḥĕrîm: Banned or devoted to destruction.
הֶחֱרִים
The related verb shows that the object is marked by an act of devotion under the ban, not merely described as unfortunate.
הִתְקַדְּשׁוּ
hitqaddĕšû
GROWS FROM
קדש
To set apart, consecrate.
“Sanctify yourselves” in this verse is hitqaddĕšû. The people are told to set themselves apart for the coming day while the thing under the ban remains among them. The verse holds preparation and removal together: the people are consecrated as the breach is faced.
ALSO GROWS
qādôš: Set apart; holy.
קָדוֹשׁ
This shares the root of the command to sanctify and carries the same idea of being set apart.
miqdāš: Sanctuary; set-apart place.
מִקְדָּשׁ
The sanctuary is a place marked as set apart, extending the root from the people’s preparation to a dedicated space.
THE PATTERN
A breach within a people affects their ability to stand, and the response begins by removing what remains among them.
For the LORD thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee; therefore shall thy camp be holy: that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee.Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:THE THREAD
Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you.The verse names the same inability to stand, using the root qum (קום), and places the ḥērem (חֵרֶם) at its center. The next verse turns that diagnosis into the command to set the people apart and take the ban-marked thing from their midst.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us