What Does Numbers 21:22 Mean in the King James?
Let me pass through thy land: we will not turn into the fields, or into the vineyards; we will not drink of the waters of the well: but we will go along by the king’s high way, until we be past thy borders.
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 repeats the root for “pass” at both ends of the request, turning movement through the land into a crossing with a named endpoint.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks to movement through another person’s space: passage has a clear boundary, and the traveler names what remains untouched along the way. The request holds movement and restraint together, leaving the fields, vineyards, and water outside the route.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It loosens the belief that having somewhere to go gives you a claim on whatever lies beside the way.
THE ROOT
אֶעְבְּרָה
ʾeʿberāh
GROWS FROM
עבר
To cross over or pass from one side to another.
“pass through / be past” in this verse is ʾeʿberāh. The same root shapes “Let me pass through” and “until we be past thy borders”; the English “past” hides the repeated Hebrew. The crossing is bounded by its stated endpoint.
ALSO GROWS
ʿēver: The other side; beyond.
עֵבֶר
The far side is already present in the root family, echoing the endpoint of the requested crossing.
maʿavār: A passage or crossing.
מַעֲבָר
This noun names a crossing itself, keeping the focus on passage through rather than possession of the land.
דֶּרֶךְ
derekh
GROWS FROM
דרך
To tread or make one’s way; by extension, a road or course.
The king’s “way” is linked to the act of treading: it is a route to follow through, distinct from the cultivated land beside it. That root makes the chosen road concrete as a walked path.
ALSO GROWS
dārakh: To tread or march.
דָּרַךְ
The verb behind the word for “way” evokes movement along a route rather than entry into fields and vineyards.
derekh: A way, road, or course.
דֶּרֶךְ
This is the word used for the king’s way, the stated route through the land.
THE PATTERN
Passage through another person’s space stays bounded by care for that person’s property and welfare.
Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour, neither rob him: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning.Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.Let no man seek his own, but every man another’s wealth.THE THREAD
Let us pass, I pray thee, through thy country: we will not pass through the fields, or through the vineyards, neither will we drink of the water of the wells: we will go by the king’s high way, we will not turn to the right hand nor to the left, until we have passed thy borders.Numbers 20:17 uses the same root, עבר, in “pass through” and “passed thy borders,” with the king’s way between them. The repetition makes the request’s shape plain: crossing stays bounded by the far side named at the end.
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