What Does Joshua 20:6 Mean?
And he shall settle in that city until he stands before the assembly for judgment, and until the death of the great priest who will be in those days. Then the crusher shall turn back and come to his own city and to his own house, to the city from which he fled.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And he shall dwell in that city, until he stand before the congregation for judgment, and until the death of the high priest that shall be in those days: then shall the slayer return, and come unto his own city, and unto his own house, unto the city from whence he fled.THE KEY
Return is possible, but it waits until public judgment and the high priest’s death open the way home.
THE MEANING
For you now, the verse holds refuge and accountability together: shelter remains while judgment before the congregation and the high priest’s death mark the threshold. Then the way back leads to the slayer’s own city and house; flight does not erase belonging.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that refuge means the case is over is undone: judgment still matters. The fear that confinement permanently erases the way home is undone by the promised return.
THE ROOT
וְשָׁב
wəshav
GROWS FROM
שׁוב
Turn back, return, restore.
“turn back” in this verse is wəshav. English can make return sound like movement alone, but this root also names turning back and bringing someone back. Here the return restores the slayer to a city and house still called his own, after a clearly named threshold.
ALSO GROWS
shav: He returns.
שָׁב
This form of the root makes the verse’s final movement an actual return, not simply departure from refuge.
teshuvah: Return, turning back.
תְּשׁוּבָה
This branch carries the same turn-back sense, showing that return involves a change of direction.
heshiv: Bring back, restore.
הֵשִׁיב
This causative form reveals the restorative shade beneath the slayer’s return to his own place.
נָס
nas
GROWS FROM
נוס
Flee, escape.
The verse names the flight as part of the return: the destination is the city from which the man fled. Flight does not become his permanent identity or erase his connection to that place.
ALSO GROWS
yanus: He flees.
יָנוּס
This form keeps the movement of escape visible behind the verse’s description of where he came from.
manos: Refuge, escape.
מָנוֹס
This branch links fleeing with the possibility of shelter, illuminating why the return begins only after a period in the refuge city.
מִשְׁפָּט
mishpat
GROWS FROM
שׁפט
Judge, decide, govern.
The return is not immediate or privately decided: the man stands before the congregation for judgment. The verse holds a public hearing alongside refuge, then names the conditions that precede his return.
ALSO GROWS
shaphat: Judge, decide.
שָׁפַט
This verb makes clear that the congregation’s judgment is an active part of the process.
shophēt: Judge, one who decides or governs.
שֹׁפֵט
This related noun shows the root’s connection to the person who exercises judgment.
THE PATTERN
A person’s distance from home can end in a return that restores belonging.
And the assembly shall snatch the crusher out of the hand of the blood-redeemer, and the assembly shall bring him back to the city of his escape, where he fled; and he shall settle in it until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the set-apart oil.And I will be found by you, says the LORD, and I will turn back your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I carried you away.And he rose and came to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him, and his inward parts were moved, and he ran and fell upon his neck and kissed him.THE THREAD
And I will be found by you, says the LORD, and I will turn back your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I carried you away.Joshua’s “return” and Jeremiah’s “turn away” and “bring you again” draw on שׁוב (shuv, “turn back, return, restore”). The shared root opens return as more than retracing a route: it reverses the condition that kept someone away.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us