What Does Numbers 13:18 Mean in the King James?

And see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many;

Numbers 13:18 · KJV

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 Hebrew word for “weak,” ⁨רָפֶה⁩ (rapheh, slack or released), carries the motion of loosening, so the verse measures where force holds firm and where it gives way.

THE MEANING

You are asked now to look at the land and its people as they are, naming what you see: strength or weakness, fewness or multitude. The facts come into view before they become a verdict about what is possible.

THE ROOT

רָפֶה

rapheh

GROWS FROM

רפה

raphah

To slacken, loosen, or let drop; by extension, to be weak.

English “weak” can sound like a fixed condition, while this root also carries the motion of slackening or letting go. The same root appears in the Hebrew behind “Be still” in Psalm 46:10, linking weakness with release.

ALSO GROWS

raphah: To loosen, slacken, or let drop; in some forms, to become weak or cease.

רָפָה

This restores the motion beneath “weak”: what slackens is no longer held taut.

harpu: A plural command from the same root: release, slacken, or cease.

הַרְפּוּ

The Hebrew behind Psalm 46:10’s “Be still” shares the root of “weak” here, joining a condition of loosened strength with an act of release.

חָזָק

chazaq

GROWS FROM

חזק

chazaq

To be firm or strong, and also to strengthen or hold fast.

The word translated “strong” carries firmness, but its root also describes strengthening and holding fast. Beside ⁨רפה⁩ (raphah, slacken or release), the verse’s contrast becomes tactile: force can hold firm or loosen.

ALSO GROWS

chazaq: To be strong, firm, or prevail.

חָזַק

This is the word used for the strong side of the comparison.

chizzeq: To make strong, reinforce, or fortify.

חִזֵּק

This branch shows strength as something that can be reinforced, echoing the verse’s focus on how force holds.

THE PATTERN

Visible measures of force and number describe what is present, but do not alone settle what can follow.

The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:

Deuteronomy 7:7 · KJVFewness is named plainly, while the verse says that number is not what determines the outcome.

And Jonathan said to the young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised: it may be that the LORD will work for us: for there is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few.

1 Samuel 14:6 · KJVJonathan names the numerical imbalance and leaves room for action beyond the count.

But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

1 Corinthians 1:27 · KJVWeakness and might are both named, yet visible strength does not have the final word.

THE THREAD

Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

Psalm 46:10 · KJV

Psalm 46:10 uses ⁨הַרְפּוּ⁩ (harpu, release or slacken), from the same root ⁨רפה⁩ (raphah, slacken or release) as “weak” here. The shared root lets weakness carry the image of loosened force, while the psalm gives that same letting-go an active form.

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