What Does Zechariah 3:3 Mean in the King James?
Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel.
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
Joshua’s name means “YHWH delivers,” yet he stands visibly clothed in filth: deliverance meets the exposed condition before the garments change.
THE MEANING
You stand before the divine with what is unclean still visible; the verse holds exposure and presence in the same frame. Joshua’s name carries “YHWH delivers,” while his garments still display filth.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that visible uncleanness makes divine presence impossible dissolves here: Joshua stands before the messenger while still wearing the filthy garments.
THE ROOT
יְהוֹשֻׁעַ
Yehoshua
GROWS FROM
ישע
yasha
Deliver, bring out to safety.
Joshua’s name carries the root יָשַׁע (yasha, “deliver”): Yehoshua means “YHWH delivers.” The scene places that name beside filthy clothing, with deliverance present while the condition remains exposed.
ALSO GROWS
yasha: Deliver, bring to safety.
יָשַׁע
This verb is the root carried in Joshua’s name.
yeshuah: Deliverance.
יְשׁוּעָה
This noun makes the root’s movement into safety visible as a state.
moshia: Deliverer.
מוֹשִׁיעַ
This form names one who brings another out to safety.
בְּגָדִים
begadim
GROWS FROM
בגד
b-g-d
Garment; the related verbal form means to act faithlessly.
“garments” in this verse is begadim. The same three consonants name a garment and form a verb for acting faithlessly, allowing the clothing to echo betrayal without making “garment” a synonym for betrayal. What covers Joshua is an exposed condition; it does not erase the person standing there.
ALSO GROWS
beged: Garment, clothing.
בֶּגֶד
This singular form is the same garment word found in Joshua’s plural garments.
bagad: Act faithlessly, betray.
בָּגַד
It shares the consonants בגד with the garment word, creating an echo between what covers and faithlessness.
begidah: Treachery, betrayal.
בְּגִידָה
This noun belongs to the same consonantal family as the verb for acting faithlessly.
לָבֻשׁ
labush
GROWS FROM
לבש
lavash
Clothe, put on, wear.
The verse describes Joshua through what he is clothed in, making his condition a covering rather than his identity. The same root returns in the next verse when he is given new clothing.
ALSO GROWS
lavash: Clothe, put on, wear.
לָבַשׁ
This verb is the root behind the description of Joshua as clothed.
levush: Clothing, attire.
לְבוּשׁ
This noun names what covers the body, the same visible layer at the center of the scene.
malbush: Garment, clothing.
מַלְבּוּשׁ
This derivative keeps the verse’s clothing image within the same root family.
THE PATTERN
Defilement is exposed in divine presence before the covering is changed.
Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.THE THREAD
And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.The verb translated “clothe” repeats לָבַשׁ (lavash, “clothe”), the root behind “clothed” here. The garments are removed as the iniquity passes and fresh clothing is given, revealing the stain as something that can be taken away.
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