What Does Joshua 9:7 Mean in the King James?
And the men of Israel said unto the Hivites, Peradventure ye dwell among us; and how shall we make a league with 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
What English calls making a league is literally cutting a covenant, and the question turns on whether the strangers already dwell within the shared space.
THE MEANING
You meet the question of whether a promise can be made when the other person may already live within your shared space. A covenant binds action toward people who are no longer simply outside the boundary. The answer changes who is protected and how that shared space is held.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that a promise can be assessed without asking who already lives within its reach.
THE ROOT
אֶכְרָת־לְךָ בְּרִית
ekrat lekha berit
GROWS FROM
כרת
to cut, cut off
“make a league” in this verse is ekrat lekha berit. The Hebrew phrase literally says to cut a covenant, giving the bond a marked, consequential quality. The same root also appears in words for cutting off, so the phrase carries an echo of the boundary a covenant creates.
ALSO GROWS
karat: To cut, cut off, or make a covenant.
כָּרַת
This verb is the action used in the verse’s phrase for making a covenant.
keritut: A cutting off; a certificate of divorce.
כְּרִיתוּת
This branch lets the cutting image carry both the creation of a bond and the severing of one.
בְּקִרְבִּי
beqirbi
GROWS FROM
קרב
to approach, come near
“among us” in this verse is beqirbi. The word translated “among” carries the sense of being in the inward midst. Its consonants also appear in words for approaching and drawing near, so the question is about closeness and belonging as well as location.
ALSO GROWS
qerev: The inner part, midst, or within.
קֶרֶב
This is the word-shape behind the verse’s image of dwelling inside the shared space.
qarav: To come near or approach.
קָרַב
The shared consonants link being in the midst with coming near.
korban: Drawing near.
קָרְבָּן
This branch extends the same nearness into the question of who has entered the community’s inner space.
THE PATTERN
A covenant draws a boundary of obligation that shapes how people within the shared space are treated.
In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.And Joshua made peace with them, and made a league with them, to let them live: and the princes of the congregation sware unto them.THE THREAD
In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:Genesis uses the same Hebrew idiom, karat berit, literally “cut a covenant.” There the covenant marks the reach of a promise across land and generations; here the question is whether that bond can be cut with people who may already dwell within the shared space.
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