What Does Joshua 21:21 Mean in the King James?
For they gave them Shechem with her suburbs in mount Ephraim, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Gezer with her 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
Shechem (שְׁכֶם, Shekhem), “Shoulder,” is appointed as refuge for the slayer, making protection a place that can bear weight.
THE MEANING
A person called a slayer has a place to flee. The city gives that person shelter without making the killing disappear. Shechem’s name carries the image of a shoulder bearing weight; the verse places that image inside the work of refuge.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a slayer has no place to flee: the verse names a city specifically for that person.
THE ROOT
שְׁכֶם
Shekhem
GROWS FROM
שכם
sh-k-m
Shoulder.
The place-name carries the word for “shoulder” inside it. Here Shechem is appointed as a refuge, so the name’s image of a supporting shoulder sits inside the city’s role as shelter for the slayer.
ALSO GROWS
shekhem: Shoulder.
שְׁכֶם
This is the word within the place-name Shechem, giving the refuge a bodily image of support.
shikhmo: His shoulder.
שִׁכְמוֹ
Isaiah 9:6 uses this form for the shoulder that bears the government, echoing the image of a shoulder carrying weight.
מִקְלָט
miqlat
GROWS FROM
קלט
q-l-t
Receive, take in; מִקְלָט names a place of asylum or refuge.
The Hebrew word miqlat (מִקְלָט, “refuge”) presents safety as a place that receives someone who flees. Here that place is assigned to the slayer, giving refuge a location and a boundary.
ALSO GROWS
qālaṭ: To receive or take in.
קָלַט
This verb gives the root’s sense of reception, which is carried into the word for refuge.
miqlat: A refuge or place of asylum.
מִקְלָט
This is the word used for the city’s function in the verse: a place the slayer can flee into.
מִגְרָשֶׁיהָ
migrāšehā
GROWS FROM
גרש
g-r-sh
Drive out, expel.
The word the KJV renders “suburbs” refers to open land around a city, often pastureland. The verse’s provision therefore includes land beyond the city’s built center.
ALSO GROWS
gāraš: To drive out or expel.
גָּרַשׁ
This verb supplies the root shared with the word for the open land around a town.
migrāš: Open land around a city, often pastureland.
מִגְרָשׁ
This is the singular form of the land term translated “suburbs” here; the land accompanies the city.
THE PATTERN
Refuge takes the form of a place or presence a threatened person can flee into and be received.
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.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
That the slayer that killeth any person unawares and unwittingly may flee thither: and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood.Joshua 21:21 names Shechem as a city of refuge; Joshua 20:3 uses the same word miqlat (מִקְלָט, “refuge”) and specifies that the slayer has killed unintentionally. The connection makes clear that refuge meets the person who killed without intent and places them beyond the avenger’s reach.
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