What Does Joshua 20:2 Mean in the King James?
Speak to the children of Israel, saying, Appoint out for you cities of refuge, whereof I spake unto you by the hand of Moses:
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 Hebrew word for refuge carries the idea of being received: the appointed city gives the fleeing person a place inside.
THE MEANING
A place of refuge is established before anyone needs to flee. Protection is concrete and shared: there is somewhere to go when danger is close.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that protection begins only after harm: the refuge is designated in advance.
THE ROOT
מִקְלָט
miqlāṭ
GROWS FROM
קלט
q-l-ṭ
receive, take in, absorb
English “refuge” can sound like mere escape, but מִקְלָט (miqlāṭ, refuge or asylum) grows from קלט (q-l-ṭ, receive or take in). Its name frames protection as reception: the person fleeing is taken into a designated place.
ALSO GROWS
qālaṭ: To receive or take something in.
קָלַט
The verb shares the seed of the noun: refuge is a place that receives the one fleeing.
miqlāṭ: A place of refuge or asylum.
מִקְלָט
Here it names a public place whose role is to receive someone under threat.
תְּנוּ
tenu
GROWS FROM
נתן
n-t-n
give, set, place
The command beneath “appoint out” is to give or set these cities apart for the people. Safety takes the form of provision placed into shared life, rather than an escape found by chance.
ALSO GROWS
nātan: To give, set, or place.
נָתַן
This is the root of the command: establish refuge as a concrete place for the people.
mattānāh: A gift, something given.
מַתָּנָה
The shared root links the appointed place to what is given; refuge is provided for those who need it.
THE PATTERN
Protection becomes tangible through a prepared place where those fleeing danger can find refuge.
And if a man lie not in wait, but God deliver him into his hand; then I will appoint thee a place whither he shall flee.To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah, A Song upon Alamoth. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.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
Then ye shall appoint you cities to be cities of refuge for you; that the slayer may flee thither, which killeth any person at unawares.This verse repeats מִקְלָט (miqlāṭ, refuge) and makes explicit whom the refuge receives: a person who killed someone unintentionally. The shared word places reception inside a system that acknowledges the death while giving the fleeing person a protected place.
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