What Does Judges 1:27 Mean in the King James?
Neither did Manasseh drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean and her towns, nor Taanach and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and her towns: but the Canaanites would dwell in that land.
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 same Hebrew root can mean to inherit or to dispossess, so leaving the Canaanites in place leaves possession unfinished.
THE MEANING
Manasseh does not drive the Canaanites out of these towns, and they continue to dwell in the land. The result is not empty ground but an ongoing Canaanite presence.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The false belief is that what is left undisturbed becomes empty. Here, the land remains occupied.
THE ROOT
הוֹרִישׁ
horish
GROWS FROM
יָרַשׁ
To take possession or inherit; in the causative form, to dispossess.
The root holds inheriting and dispossessing together: taking possession of land includes displacing its former occupants. Here, the failure to drive out leaves that act of possession unfinished.
ALSO GROWS
yarash: Possess, take possession, inherit.
יָרַשׁ
The base form names occupying or receiving the land, placing possession on the same root as the verse’s dispossession.
morashah: Heritage, inherited possession.
מוֹרָשָׁה
This inheritance word grows from the same root, joining what is received to what must be dispossessed.
יֹשְׁבֵי
yoshvei
GROWS FROM
יָשַׁב
To sit, settle, or dwell.
“inhabitants / dwell” in this verse is yoshvei. The verse calls the Canaanites inhabitants and closes by saying they dwell in the land; both forms return to the same root. Their presence is settled residence, not a passing encounter.
ALSO GROWS
yoshev: An inhabitant, one who dwells.
יוֹשֵׁב
This form names the people whose residence remains in the towns.
moshav: A dwelling place or settlement.
מוֹשָׁב
The related word for a settlement shows how this root describes an established place of residence.
וַיּוֹאֶל
wayyo'el
GROWS FROM
יָאַל
To be willing, consent, or undertake.
“would” in this verse is wayyo'el. The Hebrew clause adds willingness to the Canaanite presence: they are willing to dwell in the land. The wording gives their continued residence a sense of consent or resolve alongside Manasseh’s failure to dispossess them.
ALSO GROWS
ho'il: Was willing or content.
הוֹאִיל
In Exodus 2:21, this form describes Moses being content to dwell with the man, showing the root’s sense of willingness.
ho'alti: I have undertaken or consented.
הוֹאַלְתִּי
In Genesis 18:27, this form marks a speaker’s resolve to proceed, echoing the willing quality in the verse’s closing clause.
THE PATTERN
What is not driven out can continue to occupy the space it already holds.
But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell.I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left when he died:Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.THE THREAD
When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;The Hebrew root yarash appears here in both “possess” and “cast out,” holding the two actions together. Judges 1:27 shows Manasseh stopping short of that action, while this verse names its intended fullness.
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