What Does Joshua 21:35 Mean in the King James?
Dimnah with her suburbs, Nahalal with her suburbs; four 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 “suburbs” are open land around each city, so a dwelling includes space for life to extend beyond its center.
THE MEANING
A place to dwell comes with open ground around it. Belonging here includes both an inhabited center and the space beyond it.
THE ROOT
מִגְרָשֶׁיהָ
migrāshehā
GROWS FROM
ג־ר־שׁ
g-r-sh
Drive out, send away, expel.
“suburbs” in this verse is migrāshehā. The Hebrew מִגְרָשׁ (migrash) means the open land around a city, especially pastureland. Its root also carries the sense of driving outward, giving the verse a picture of dwelling that reaches beyond the city’s center.
ALSO GROWS
gārash: Drive out, expel.
גָּרַשׁ
This verb shows the root’s outward movement; in מִגְרָשׁ, that movement is associated with the open land extending around a city.
gerūshāh: A divorced or put-away woman.
גְּרוּשָׁה
This word also belongs to the root’s family of sending away, showing its concrete sense of movement outward.
THE PATTERN
A dwelling includes the open ground set around it, so habitation reaches beyond its built center.
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.Unto the rest of the children of Merari were given out of the tribe of Zebulun, Rimmon with her suburbs, Tabor with her suburbs: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.Both verses use מִגְרָשׁ (migrash), meaning the open land around a city, rendered “suburbs.” Numbers states the pairing directly: a place to dwell and the surrounding open ground belong together.
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