What Does Joshua 21:13 Mean in the King James?

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 21:13 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The slayer’s refuge is placed in Hebron, a name rooted in joining and association.

THE MEANING

A person who has killed has a designated place to flee, located within the inheritance given to the priestly line. Refuge is made tangible as a city with surrounding land, not left as an idea. Hebron’s name carries the sense of joining into the place where that refuge stands.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The belief that a killing leaves no place to flee before judgment: this verse names a city assigned as refuge for the slayer.

THE ROOT

חֶבְרוֹן

Ḥeḇrôn

GROWS FROM

חבר

ḥ-b-r

To join, associate, or bind together.

Hebron’s name grows from the root ⁨חבר⁩, “join” or “associate.” English leaves the name as a place label, while its root places the language of joining inside the city assigned as refuge for the slayer.

ALSO GROWS

ḥāḇar: To join or associate.

חָבַר

This verb carries the action held in Hebron’s name: joining.

ḥeḇer: Company, band, or association.

חֶבֶר

This related noun gives the root’s sense of joining a social shape, echoing that refuge is located within a city.

THE PATTERN

Refuge is made into an accessible place people can flee toward before vengeance overtakes them.

And they shall be unto you cities for refuge from the avenger; that the manslayer die not, until he stand before the congregation in judgment.

Numbers 35:12 · KJVThe city creates shelter from the avenger until the slayer stands before judgment.

Thou shalt prepare thee a way, and divide the coasts of thy land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee to inherit, into three parts, that every slayer may flee thither.

Deuteronomy 19:3 · KJVThe refuge is made reachable by preparing a way and placing cities across the land.

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:

Hebrews 6:18 · KJVThe language of fleeing for refuge carries the pattern into a place of hope held out to those seeking shelter.

THE THREAD

Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together:

Psalm 122:3 · KJV

The phrase “compact together” comes from ⁨חבר⁩, the same root carried in Hebron’s name. The shared root lets you hear Hebron as more than a location label: joining is woven into the name of the city assigned as refuge.

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