What Does Joshua 9:3 Mean in the King James?
And when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done unto Jericho and to Ai,
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
Gibeon first meets Joshua through the report of his deeds, so the news reaches the city before Joshua does.
THE MEANING
What you hear about a force already in motion can shape your next response before you encounter it yourself. Here, the inhabitants of Gibeon hear of Jericho and Ai, and the report becomes the hinge between Joshua’s deeds and their coming move.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A response begins only when you act: this verse places its beginning earlier, in what reaches your ears.
THE ROOT
וַיִּשְׁמְעוּ
vayishme’u
GROWS FROM
שמע
To hear, listen, or heed.
The verb here means “and they heard,” from שמע (shamaʿ), whose range includes hearing, listening, and heeding. The next verse turns this hearing into a response: the report reaches Gibeon before the Gibeonites act.
ALSO GROWS
shemaʿ: Hear and respond.
שְׁמַע
This form shows how hearing can carry a response, as it does in Gibeon’s next move.
shemuʿah: Report, tidings.
שְׁמוּעָה
It names the kind of thing that reaches Gibeon here: news of what has happened.
גִּבְעוֹן
Giv’on
GROWS FROM
גבע
To rise or be elevated; a hill.
Gibeon’s name carries the sense of a hill place. The English keeps it as a place label, while the Hebrew name preserves the landform in the city’s identity.
ALSO GROWS
givʿah: Hill.
גִּבְעָה
This related word makes the elevated-land meaning in Gibeon’s name visible.
Giv’on: Gibeon; hill place.
גִּבְעוֹן
The place name itself carries the root’s sense of elevation.
THE PATTERN
News of power moves the hearer before that power arrives in person.
And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid.When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.THE THREAD
And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.Both verses use שמע (shamaʿ, hear) for the moment a report reaches its listeners. Joshua 2:11 makes the effect explicit: what is heard has already changed their hearts before any encounter.
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