What Does Numbers 34:4 Mean in the King James?
And your border shall turn from the south to the ascent of Akrabbim, and pass on to Zin: and the going forth thereof shall be from the south to Kadesh-barnea, and shall go on to Hazar-addar, and pass on to Azmon:
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
A boundary here is a route that turns, climbs, and passes through named places, giving a territory its shape.
THE MEANING
The boundary moves from the south up the Akrabbim ascent, through Zin to Kadesh-barnea, and onward toward Hazar-addar and Azmon. A place becomes distinct through the edges that trace it across real terrain. The verse makes the territory specific enough to follow and recognize.
THE ROOT
גְּבוּל
gevul
GROWS FROM
גבל
g-b-l
To mark out or set a boundary.
“border” in this verse is gevul. The word can refer to the boundary and to the territory it marks. Here, that boundary turns, passes, and rises: it is the shape of a place traced across the land.
ALSO GROWS
gābal: To border or set a boundary.
גָּבַל
The verb shows the boundary as an act of marking out a place.
gevul: Boundary, border, or territory.
גְּבוּל
The same word holds both the limit and the land defined by it.
מַעֲלֵה
maʿaleh
GROWS FROM
עלה
ʿ-l-h
To rise or go up.
The boundary is not described only by where it runs, but by how it rises through the terrain. The ascent makes elevation part of the territory’s defining line.
ALSO GROWS
ʿālāh: To go up or ascend.
עָלָה
This verb names the upward movement built into the route.
ʿōlāh: A whole burnt offering; literally, something that rises.
עֹלָה
The related noun preserves the root’s upward movement, echoing the ascent in the boundary’s path.
THE PATTERN
Boundaries give a portion a concrete shape and a place where life can dwell.
And it went out to the south side to Maaleh-acrabbim, and passed along to Zin, and ascended up on the south side unto Kadesh-barnea, and passed along to Hezron, and went up to Adar, and fetched a compass to Karkaa:The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;THE THREAD
When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.Numbers traces one border across the land; Deuteronomy names the bounds as part of an inheritance. The Hebrew word for “bounds” shares the root גבל (g-b-l) with “border,” linking the route to the territory it defines.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
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