Joshua 23:12

Bible in Basic English (1941)

For if you go back, joining yourselves to the rest of these nations who are still among you, getting married to them and living with them and they with you:

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

כִּ֣י ׀ אִם־שׁ֣וֹב תָּשׁ֗וּבוּ וּדְבַקְתֶּם֙ בְּיֶ֙תֶר֙ הַגּוֹיִ֣ם הָאֵ֔לֶּה הַנִּשְׁאָרִ֥ים הָאֵ֖לֶּה אִתְּכֶ֑ם וְהִֽתְחַתַּנְתֶּ֥ם בָּהֶ֛ם וּבָאתֶ֥ם בָּהֶ֖ם וְהֵ֥ם בָּכֶֽם׃

Transliteration

But if šôḇ tāšûḇû and dəḇaqtem in yeter the gôyim the ʾēlleh the nnišʾārîm the ʾēlleh with you and wəhitḥattantem in them and ûḇāʾtem in them and they in you.

Grammar Details

• *šôḇ*: qal infinitive absolute - returning
• *tāšûḇû*: qal imperfect 2mp - you will return
• *dəḇaqtem*: qal perfect 2mp - you have clung to
• *yeter*: noun construct - remainder of
• *gôyim*: masculine plural noun with definite article - the nations
• *ʾēlleh*: demonstrative pronoun - these
• *nnišʾārîm*: niphal participle masculine plural with definite article - the remaining ones
• *wəhitḥattantem*: waw + hithpael perfect 2mp - and you intermarry
• *ûḇāʾtem*: waw + qal perfect 2mp - and you go in

Word Meanings

• *šôḇ tāšûḇû*: indeed return/surely turn back/if you turn back at all
• *dəḇaqtem*: cling to/join with/adhere to
• *yeter*: remainder/rest/remnant
• *nnišʾārîm*: remaining/surviving/left over
• *wəhitḥattantem*: intermarry/make marriage alliances
• *ûḇāʾtem bāhem wəhēm bākem*: you go in to them and they to you/you intermingle with them and they with you

Referenced Verses

• Deut 7:3 : 3 Do not take wives or husbands from among them; do not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons.
• 1 Sam 18:1-3 : 1 Now after David's talk with Saul was ended, the soul of Jonathan was joined with the soul of David, and David became as dear to him as his very life. 2 And that day Saul took David and would not let him go back to his father's house. 3 Then Jonathan and David made an agreement together, because of Jonathan's love for David.
• 1 Kgs 11:2 : 2 The nations of which the Lord had said to the children of Israel, You are not to take wives from them and they are not to take wives from you; or they will certainly make you go after their gods: to these Solomon was united in love.
• 1 Kgs 11:4 : 4 For it came about that when Solomon was old, his heart was turned away to other gods by his wives; and his heart was no longer true to the Lord his God as the heart of his father David had been.
• Ezra 9:1-2 : 1 Now after these things were done, the captains came to me and said, The people of Israel and the priests and Levites have not kept themselves separate from the people of the lands, but have taken part in the disgusting ways of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. 2 For they have taken their daughters for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy seed has been mixed with the peoples of the lands; and in fact the captains and rulers have been the first to do this evil.
• Ezra 9:11-12 : 11 Which you gave to your servants the prophets, saying, The land into which you are going, to take it for a heritage, is an unclean land, because of the evil lives of the peoples of the land and their disgusting ways, which have made the land unclean from end to end. 12 So now do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons or do anything for their peace or well-being for ever; so that you may be strong, living on the good of the land, and handing it on to your children for a heritage for ever.
• Neh 13:23-26 : 23 And in those days I saw the Jews who were married to women of Ashdod and Ammon and Moab: 24 And their children were talking half in the language of Ashdod; they had no knowledge of the Jews' language, but made use of the language of the two peoples. 25 And I took up the cause against them, cursing them and giving blows to some of them and pulling out their hair; and I made them take an oath by God, saying, You are not to give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves. 26 Was it not in these things that Solomon, king of Israel, did wrong? among a number of nations there was no king like him, and he was dear to his God, and God made him king over all Israel: but even he was made to do evil by strange women.
• Ps 36:3 : 3 In the words of his mouth are evil and deceit; he has given up being wise and doing good.
• Ps 106:34-35 : 34 They did not put an end to the peoples, as the Lord had said; 35 But they were joined to the nations, learning their works.
• Ps 125:5 : 5 But as for such as are turned out of the straight way, the Lord will take them away with the workers of evil. Let peace be on Israel.
• Isa 1:4 : 4 O nation full of sin, a people weighted down with crime, a generation of evil-doers, false-hearted children: they have gone away from the Lord, they have no respect for the Holy One of Israel, their hearts are turned back from him.
• Ezek 18:24 : 24 But when the upright man, turning away from his righteousness, does evil, like all the disgusting things which the evil man does, will he have life? Not one of his upright acts will be kept in memory: in the wrong which he has done and in his sin death will overtake him.
• Zeph 1:6 : 6 And those who are turned back from going after the Lord, and those who have not made prayer to the Lord or got directions from him.
• Matt 12:45 : 45 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits worse than himself, and they go in and make it their living-place: and the last condition of that man is worse than the first. Even so will it be with this evil generation.
• John 6:66 : 66 Because of what he said, a number of the disciples went back and would no longer go with him.
• Rom 12:9 : 9 Let love be without deceit. Be haters of what is evil; keep your minds fixed on what is good.
• 2 Cor 6:14-17 : 14 Do not keep company with those who have not faith: for what is there in common between righteousness and evil, or between light and dark? 15 And what agreement is there between Christ and the Evil One? or what part has one who has faith with one who has not? 16 And what agreement has the house of God with images? for we are a house of the living God; even as God has said, I will be living among them, and walking with them; and I will be their God, and they will be my people. 17 For which cause, Come out from among them, and be separate, says the Lord, and let no unclean thing come near you; and I will take you for myself,
• Heb 10:38-39 : 38 But the upright man will be living by his faith; and if he goes back, my soul will have no pleasure in him. 39 But we are not of those who go back to destruction; but of those who have faith even to the salvation of the soul.
• 2 Pet 2:18-22 : 18 For with high-sounding false words, making use of the attraction of unclean desires of the flesh, they get into their power those newly made free from those who are living in error; 19 Saying that they will be free, while they themselves are the servants of destruction; because whatever gets the better of a man makes a servant of him. 20 For if, after they have got free from the unclean things of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again taken in the net and overcome, their last condition is worse than their first. 21 For it would have been better for them to have had no knowledge of the way of righteousness, than to go back again from the holy law which was given to them, after having knowledge of it. 22 They are an example of that true saying, The dog has gone back to the food it had put out, and the pig which had been washed to its rolling in the dirty earth.
• 1 John 2:9 : 9 He who says that he is in the light, and has hate in his heart for his brother, is still in the dark.
• Gen 2:24 : 24 For this cause will a man go away from his father and his mother and be joined to his wife; and they will be one flesh.
• Gen 34:3 : 3 Then his heart went out in love to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and he said comforting words to her.
• Exod 34:12-16 : 12 But take care, and do not make any agreement with the people of the land where you are going, for it will be a cause of sin to you. 13 But their altars are to be overturned and their pillars broken and their images cut down: 14 For you are to be worshippers of no other god: for the Lord is a God who will not give his honour to another. 15 So see that you make no agreement with the people of the land, and do not go after their gods, or take part in their offerings, or be guests at their feasts, 16 Or take their daughters for your sons; for when their daughters give worship before their gods, they will make your sons take part with them.