What Does Joshua 8:7 Mean in the King James?

Then ye shall rise up from the ambush, and seize upon the city: for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand.

Joshua 8:7 · 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.

THE KEY

The city is seized by human force and described as given by God; the verse holds both agencies in the same act.

THE MEANING

You encounter a sequence where concealed fighters rise and seize the city, while the LORD is named as the one who gives it into their hand. Human action and divine giving share a sentence whose violence stays visible.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the assumption that divine giving must be gentle: here the transfer is bound to an ambush and a forced seizure.

THE ROOT

וְהוֹרַשְׁתֶּם

vehorashtem

GROWS FROM

ירש

y-r-sh

Possess or inherit; in the form used here, dispossess or drive out.

“seize upon” in this verse is vehorashtem. The verb holds two sides of taking in one root: to possess, and in this form to dispossess. The city enters one hand as its defenders are driven from it; the word keeps both sides of conquest present.

ALSO GROWS

yarash: Possess or inherit; in some forms, dispossess.

יָרַשׁ

Its range shows that taking possession can also mean driving others out.

yerushah: Possession or inheritance.

יְרֻשָּׁה

The city is treated as territory to be possessed, while the root also carries the idea of inheritance.

וְנָתַן

venatan

GROWS FROM

נתן

n-t-n

Give, set, place.

The KJV’s “deliver” here translates the ordinary verb “give.” The fighters rise and take the city, while this verb attributes the transfer to the LORD.

ALSO GROWS

natan: Give, set, or place.

נָתַן

This is the verb used for what the LORD does with the city.

mattanah: Gift.

מַתָּנָה

The related noun makes the root’s language of giving visible, though the verse keeps the violence of this transfer in view.

THE PATTERN

The wording of a grant into human hands holds divine giving together with the human act that follows.

And the LORD said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed: take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai: see, I have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land:

Joshua 8:1 · KJVThe same campaign is framed first as a grant into Joshua’s hand, before the ambush rises and seizes the city.

And it was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and the interpretation thereof, that he worshipped, and returned into the host of Israel, and said, Arise; for the LORD hath delivered into your hand the host of Midian.

Judges 7:15 · KJVGideon names the host of Midian as delivered into Israel’s hand, joining the stated transfer to the battle that follows.

Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:

Acts 2:23 · KJVThis verse keeps divine counsel beside the human hands that take and kill, showing the violence that can follow a handing over.

THE THREAD

Rise ye up, take your journey, and pass over the river Arnon: behold, I have given into thine hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land: begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle.

Deuteronomy 2:24 · KJV

It uses the same root ⁨ירש⁩ (y-r-sh), meaning to possess or dispossess, that stands behind “seize upon” in Joshua 8:7. Here the root sits beside “contend with him in battle,” making explicit that possession in this passage is gained through force.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us