What Does Judges 1:30 Mean in the King James?
Neither did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites dwelt among them, and became tributaries.
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
Subjection can change the terms of a presence without ending it.
THE MEANING
The inhabitants remain among Zebulun, now under tribute; their status changes, but their dwelling does not. The verse holds the difference between controlling a presence and clearing the space it occupies. That distinction remains visible wherever something is managed yet continues to shape the life around it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that a controlled presence has disappeared: the Canaanites are under tribute and still dwell among Zebulun.
THE ROOT
הוֹרִישׁ
hôrîš
GROWS FROM
י־ר־שׁ
y-r-sh
To take possession or inherit; in a causative form, to dispossess another.
“drive out” in this verse is hôrîš. Hebrew uses one root for taking possession and dispossessing another; clearing and inheriting belong to the same movement. Zebulun’s failure leaves the question of occupancy unfinished: who inhabits the land is still being decided.
ALSO GROWS
yārash: To take possession, receive as an inheritance, or dispossess another.
יָרַשׁ
The same root can name both occupying the land and displacing its prior occupants, so “drive out” concerns who holds the space.
môrāšāh: An inheritance or possession, from the same root.
מוֹרָשָׁה
Inheritance is the root’s other face: removing one presence and establishing another are linked questions of occupancy.
וַיֵּשֶׁב
wayyēšev
GROWS FROM
י־שׁ־ב
y-sh-b
To sit, remain, settle, or dwell.
“dwelt” in this verse is wayyēšev. The verse moves from a failure to dispossess to the Canaanites dwelling among Zebulun. The root gives their remaining a settled quality: this is a presence with a place inside the shared space.
ALSO GROWS
yāšab: To sit, remain, settle, or dwell.
יָשַׁב
The verse uses this root to show that those not driven out become a settled presence.
môšāb: A dwelling place, seat, or settlement.
מוֹשָׁב
This branch carries the sense of an established place, illuminating how the remaining presence takes root among them.
THE PATTERN
What remains in shared space can become an enduring influence on the people who live there.
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.But were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works.A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.THE THREAD
Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you.The same יָרַשׁ (yārash, possess or dispossess) root appears in “drive them out,” and the next chapter names what continued presence becomes: a thorn and a snare. Judges 1:30 shows the Canaanites still dwelling among Zebulun under tribute; Judges 2:3 exposes the longer consequence of their remaining.
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