What Does Numbers 13:21 Mean in the King James?
So they went up, and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath.
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
Here, searching is a going-about, and the route reaches Rehob, a name that carries the sense of a broad place.
THE MEANING
The verse lets you see a stretch of land through a moving search: from Zin’s wilderness toward Rehob and the approach to Hamath. The terrain becomes knowable as it is traversed, its far reach held together in one view. Rehob’s name echoes breadth, giving this search a sense of expanse.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that one fixed vantage is enough to know a place: the search takes in a long stretch, from the wilderness toward Hamath.
THE ROOT
וַיָּתֻרוּ
wayyāturū
GROWS FROM
תּוּר
tûr
To seek out, explore, or go about.
“searched” in this verse is wayyāturū. The same verb describes both a survey across the land and eyes going about after desire. The root holds exploration as movement of attention, whether outward across terrain or inward toward what draws the eyes.
ALSO GROWS
lātûr: To explore or search out.
לָתוּר
Numbers 13:16 uses this form for the task of searching the land, showing that the verse’s search is an active survey.
tātûrû: To go about after, or follow.
תָּתוּרוּ
Numbers 15:39 uses this form for going after the heart and eyes, revealing how the same search can follow an inward direction.
רְחֹב
reḥōḇ
GROWS FROM
רָחַב
rāḥaḇ
To be wide or spacious.
The place-name Rehob carries the sense of a broad place, so the route’s reach echoes spaciousness. The land is encountered as an expanse, not as a single point.
ALSO GROWS
reḥōḇ: A broad place, open space, or street.
רְחֹב
This form gives Rehob its name and echoes the breadth of the territory being surveyed.
hirḥîḇ: To widen or enlarge.
הִרְחִיב
This causative form shows the root’s movement toward greater space, deepening the verse’s echo of breadth.
THE PATTERN
A place becomes known through movement across its terrain and approach toward what is seen.
Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.Who went in the way before you, to search you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to shew you by what way ye should go, and in a cloud by day.He saith unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day: for it was about the tenth hour.THE THREAD
Who went in the way before you, to search you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to shew you by what way ye should go, and in a cloud by day.Numbers uses the same verb for the scouts’ search that Deuteronomy uses for the search for a place to camp. The shared root joins exploring the terrain with finding a place to rest and a way forward.
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