What Does Numbers 21:23 Mean in the King James?
And Sihon would not suffer Israel to pass through his border: but Sihon gathered all his people together, and went out against Israel into the wilderness: and he came to Jahaz, and fought against Israel.
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 KJV’s “would not suffer” hides a literal refusal to “give” Israel passage, so the withheld crossing is already the first act in the battle.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks to the moment a needed passage is denied: the refusal gathers force and becomes an encounter in open ground. The text does not soften what follows, the gathering ends in an actual fight at Jahaz.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that refusing passage is passive or consequence-free; here the withheld crossing is followed by a gathered people and violence.
THE ROOT
נָתַן
natan
GROWS FROM
נתן
give, set, place
“suffer” in this verse is natan. The Hebrew says Sihon “did not give” Israel passage. The refusal appears as withholding a concrete opening, not only as an inward objection.
ALSO GROWS
mattanah: A gift or thing given.
מַתָּנָה
This branch makes the contrast vivid: passage that could be granted is withheld.
natun: Something given, set, or placed.
נָתוּן
The root’s sense of setting something in place sharpens the boundary between passage granted and passage refused.
עֲבֹר
ʿăvōr
GROWS FROM
עבר
cross over, pass through, go beyond
“pass through” in this verse is ʿăvōr. The verse contains a crossing verb even though the crossing never happens. The conflict begins at the threshold of movement, where passage is still being sought.
ALSO GROWS
ʿever: The far side or what lies beyond.
עֵבֶר
The refused passage is movement toward the other side of Sihon’s boundary.
maʿavar: A passage or crossing point.
מַעֲבָר
This branch names the very opening that the verse says Sihon will not grant.
THE PATTERN
A guarded boundary can turn a request for passage into confrontation.
And Edom said unto him, Thou shalt not pass by me, lest I come out against thee with the sword.But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.THE THREAD
And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan.The passage verb here is עֲבֹר (ʿăvōr, pass through), from עָבַר (ʿavar, cross over or pass through); Joshua uses that same root for Israel as they “passed over” the Jordan. The shared root joins a crossing denied at Sihon’s border to a crossing completed through the river.
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