What Does 1 Chronicles 6:57 Mean in the King James?
And to the sons of Aaron they gave the cities of Judah, namely, Hebron, the city of refuge, and Libnah with her suburbs, and Jattir, and Eshtemoa, with their suburbs,
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
The refuge is named Hebron, a name linked to joining, so safety is placed within shared life.
THE MEANING
Here, refuge is a real place within shared life: Hebron is named as a city of refuge among the towns given to Aaron’s sons. Safety takes concrete shape in a place held within a community and its surrounding spaces.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that refuge requires leaving all shared life behind is unsettled here: refuge takes the form of a named city among a people’s towns.
THE ROOT
חֶבְרוֹן
Ḥevron
GROWS FROM
חבר
Join, associate, bind together.
Hebron’s name is commonly connected to the root for joining or association. Beside “city of refuge,” that name places safety within the language of belonging to a shared community.
ALSO GROWS
ḥābar: To join or associate.
חָבַר
The root holds the idea of joining inside the city’s name.
ḥever: A company, band, or association.
חֶבֶר
This branch echoes the shared life in which the refuge is located.
ḥāver: A companion or associate.
חָבֵר
The word links joining with companionship, giving the place-name a communal dimension.
נָתְנוּ
natnu from nātan
GROWS FROM
נתן
Give, set, place.
“gave” in this verse is natnu from nātan. The verb for giving also carries the sense of setting or placing. These towns are not merely transferred; they are placed as lived spaces within the community.
ALSO GROWS
nātan: To give, set, or place.
נָתַן
This is the verb behind “they gave,” holding provision and placement together.
mattānāh: A gift or present.
מַתָּנָה
This branch shows the root’s connection between giving and what is received.
netīnîm: Given or assigned ones; the Nethinim.
נְתִינִים
The name for these assigned servants carries the same root of giving and placing into a role.
THE PATTERN
A refuge becomes real when it is given a place within the shared world.
And among the cities which ye shall give unto the Levites there shall be six cities for refuge, which ye shall appoint for the manslayer, that he may flee thither: and to them ye shall add forty and two cities.Speak to the children of Israel, saying, Appoint out for you cities of refuge, whereof I spake unto you by the hand of Moses:That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:THE THREAD
Thus they gave to the children of Aaron the priest Hebron with her suburbs, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Libnah with her suburbs,Joshua names the same towns and states Hebron’s purpose plainly: refuge for the slayer. It makes the list’s geography part of the protection itself, refuge is placed among Aaron’s towns.
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