What Does Joshua 21:32 Mean in the King James?
And out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with her suburbs, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Hammoth-dor with her suburbs, and Kartan with her suburbs; three 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
Kedesh means “set apart,” and the verse sets apart refuge for the very person it calls a slayer.
THE MEANING
The verse holds two realities together now: killing is serious, and a person called a slayer still has a designated refuge. Kedesh, “set apart,” gives that shelter a boundary; the danger is named, and so is a place for the person in its reach.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It unsettles the assumption that refuge belongs only to someone untouched by harm: this verse names a shelter for the slayer.
THE ROOT
קֶדֶשׁ
Qedesh
GROWS FROM
קדשׁ
q-d-sh
Set apart; marked off for a distinct purpose.
Kedesh carries the root ק־ד־שׁ (q-d-sh), “set apart”; its name resonates with its role as a city set apart for refuge. The name does not soften “slayer”; it puts a bounded place for him alongside that stark word.
ALSO GROWS
qadosh: Set apart.
קָדוֹשׁ
It shares Kedesh’s root and shows the quality carried by the city’s name.
miqdash: Sanctuary; a set-apart place.
מִקְדָּשׁ
It carries the same root from a quality into a place, echoing how Kedesh is designated as refuge.
qiddesh: Set apart or consecrate.
קִדֵּשׁ
This verb shows the action contained in the root: marking something off for a distinct purpose.
THE PATTERN
Scripture names refuge as a defined shelter where a life under threat can flee while danger remains named.
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
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.Both verses use מִקְלָט (miqlāṭ, “refuge”), the Hebrew word for a place of shelter. Numbers names the person the refuge receives, one who killed unintentionally, so Joshua’s city list opens into the human condition the shelter is for.
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