What Does Joshua 21:25 Mean in the King James?
And out of the half tribe of Manasseh, Tanach with her suburbs, and Gath-rimmon with her suburbs; two cities.
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 surrounding open land is counted as part of the city’s inheritance, not as space outside the gift.
THE MEANING
The verse names Tanach and Gath-rimmon as two cities in the half-tribe of Manasseh’s allotment, each with surrounding open land. The assigned place includes ground around the inhabited center, not only the center itself.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that provision consists only of the inhabited center; the surrounding ground counts too.
THE ROOT
מִגְרָשׁ
migrash
GROWS FROM
גרש
To drive out, expel, or send away.
The KJV’s “suburbs” translates מִגְרָשׁ (migrash), the open land around a city. Its root גרש (garash), “drive out” or “expel,” echoes the land’s place beyond the inhabited center; the verse includes that outer space in what is allotted.
ALSO GROWS
garash: To drive out or expel.
גָּרַשׁ
This verb carries the root’s outward movement, echoed in the open land around the cities named here.
gerushah: A divorced woman; one sent away.
גְּרוּשָׁה
This branch also carries the sense of separation or being sent away, resonating with the open ground set beyond the city’s inhabited center.
THE PATTERN
An assigned dwelling includes measured space around its center, and that outer space has a practical purpose.
And the cities shall they have to dwell in; and the suburbs of them shall be for their cattle, and for their goods, and for all their beasts.Of this there shall be for the sanctuary five hundred in length, with five hundred in breadth, square round about; and fifty cubits round about for the suburbs thereof.THE THREAD
Command the children of Israel, that they give unto the Levites of the inheritance of their possession cities to dwell in; and ye shall give also unto the Levites suburbs for the cities round about them.This verse uses the same Hebrew word for the open land around a city and states that it is given along with the cities. It makes Joshua’s brief phrase “with her suburbs” concrete: the allotment includes both the dwelling place and its surrounding land.
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