Joshua 1:14 (ASV)

Passage

Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle, shall abide in the land which Moses gave you beyond the Jordan; but ye shall pass over before your brethren armed, all the mighty men of valor, and shall help them;

Nearby Context

Joshua 1:12 And to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, spake Joshua, saying,

Joshua 1:13 Remember the word which Moses the servant of Jehovah commanded you, saying, Jehovah your God giveth you rest, and will give you this land.

Joshua 1:14 Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle, shall abide in the land which Moses gave you beyond the Jordan; but ye shall pass over before your brethren armed, all the mighty men of valor, and shall help them;

Joshua 1:15 until Jehovah have given your brethren rest, as [he hath given] you, and they also have possessed the land which Jehovah your God giveth them: then ye shall return unto the land of your possession, and possess it, which Moses the servant of Jehovah gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrising.

Joshua 1:16 And they answered Joshua, saying, All that thou hast commanded us we will do, and whithersoever thou sendest us we will go.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "wives", "little", "ones", "cattle", "shall", "abide", "land", and "moses". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "wives" and "little", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 13's "Remember the word which Moses the servant..." into verse 15's "until Jehovah have given your brethren rest...", so "wives" and "little" belong inside that flow. In Joshua context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "wives" and "little" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.