What Does Joshua 21:17 Mean?
And out of the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with her pastures, Geba with her pastures,
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 out of the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with her suburbs, Geba with her suburbs,THE KEY
What English calls “suburbs” is allotted open ground around a city, so each place here includes its margin as part of the dwelling.
THE MEANING
Gibeon and Geba appear with the open ground attached to each. Dwelling here has both a center and a surrounding margin; the space around a town belongs in the picture, too.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A dwelling is only the buildings within its boundary.
THE ROOT
מִגְרָשֶׁיהָ
migresheha
GROWS FROM
גרש
garash
Drive out; expel. The related noun מִגְרָשׁ (migrash) means open ground assigned around a town.
“suburbs” in this verse is migresheha. The noun is lexically tied to גרש (garash, drive out or expel), while here מִגְרָשׁ (migrash) names the open land assigned around a city. The allotment names each town together with its surrounding space, rather than presenting it as only a built center.
ALSO GROWS
garash: Drive out; expel.
גָּרַשׁ
This verb shares the root and its outward sense with the word for the open ground around a town.
migrash: Open ground assigned around a town.
מִגְרָשׁ
This is the singular form behind “suburbs”; the verse pairs this land with each named city.
גִּבְעוֹן
Givʿon
GROWS FROM
גבע
g-b-ʿ
Hill; elevated ground.
Gibeon and Geba share the consonants גבע (g-b-ʿ), the Hebrew word-family for a hill or elevated ground. Their names echo a shared landscape as the verse lists one place beside another.
ALSO GROWS
givʿah: Hill; hilltop.
גִּבְעָה
This common form shows the hill-word carried in the names Gibeon and Geba.
gevaʿ: Hill; height.
גֶּבַע
This is the name Geba itself, making the root visible in the verse.
THE PATTERN
A dwelling’s allotted place extends beyond its built center into the open ground around it.
The cities shall be theirs to settle in, and the pasturelands shall be for their cattle, for their goods, and for all their beasts.But the field of the pasturelands of their cities shall not be sold, for it is their holding of the ages.Of this there shall be for the sanctuary five hundred in length, and five hundred in breadth, square all around. And fifty cubits all around for its pasturelands.THE THREAD
The cities shall be theirs to settle in, and the pasturelands shall be for their cattle, for their goods, and for all their beasts.Numbers gives the same word, מִגְרָשׁ (migrash, open ground assigned around a town), a practical use: space for cattle, goods, and beasts. That clarifies the “suburbs” paired with Gibeon and Geba as working ground attached to each city.
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