What Does Joshua 20:6 Mean in the King James?
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 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
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.
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 congregation shall deliver the slayer out of the hand of the revenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to the city of his refuge, whither he was fled: and he shall abide in it unto the death of the high priest, which was anointed with the holy oil.And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.THE THREAD
And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.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.
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