What Does Joshua 9:13 Mean in the King James?
And these bottles of wine, which we filled, were new; and, behold, they be rent: and these our garments and our shoes are become old by reason of the very long journey.
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
Real signs of wear can make a story plausible without proving where that wear came from.
THE MEANING
A split container, worn garment, or frayed shoe can seem to carry the history that explains it. The marks of use are real, but they do not by themselves verify the journey attached to them. Visible evidence and the story told about it are not the same thing.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
If something bears visible signs of hardship, the account offered for those signs must be true.
THE ROOT
בָּלוּ
bālû
GROWS FROM
ב־ל־ה
To wear away, become worn, or grow old through use.
“old” in this verse is bālû. The word names accumulated wear, the kind that looks like a record of time. The same root can describe clothing that does not wear out, so wear alone cannot tell you what journey produced it.
ALSO GROWS
lōʾ bāletāh: Did not wear out; Deuteronomy 8:4.
לֹא בָלְתָה
The same root describes clothing that remains unworn through forty years, a direct counterpoint to the worn garments offered here as evidence.
yivlû: They will wear out or grow old; Isaiah 50:9.
יִבְלוּ
This form also describes things wearing out like a garment, showing how the root makes visible age a physical process, not proof of its cause.
הִתְבַּקְעוּ
hiṯbaqqeʿû
GROWS FROM
ב־ק־ע
To split, cleave, or break open.
“rent” in this verse is hiṯbaqqeʿû. The word pictures the wineskins as split open, making their damage concrete. A rupture confirms that something broke; it does not reveal by itself how or when it happened.
ALSO GROWS
beqaʿ: A half-measure, a divided portion.
בֶּקַע
The related word carries the idea of something split into a part, echoing how rupture leaves a visible division.
biqʿāh: A valley or cleft plain.
בִּקְעָה
The same root describes a break in the land, extending the image of a split from a vessel to the landscape.
הַדֶּרֶךְ
haderekh
GROWS FROM
ד־ר־ך
To tread or step; as a noun, a trodden way or road.
“Journey” carries the physical sense of a path made by repeated steps. Here, old shoes and garments are presented as the way made visible on the body and its belongings, but that wear cannot verify the route claimed.
ALSO GROWS
derek: A way, road, or journey.
דֶּרֶךְ
This is the noun used in the verse: the alleged long way is presented as the cause of the worn objects.
dāraḵ: To tread, step, or march.
דָּרַךְ
The verb beneath “way” brings the journey back to repeated footsteps, the kind of movement that can wear shoes down.
THE PATTERN
Visible signs can make a story persuasive while leaving its source unverified.
The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going.But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.THE THREAD
Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.Both verses use the root ב־ל־ה (b-l-h; bālāh), “to wear away.” Joshua’s garments are said to have worn out, while Deuteronomy says clothing did not wear out across forty years. The shared root makes visible wear a clue to consider, not a reliable measure of the journey behind it.
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