What Does Joshua 21:40 Mean in the King James?
So all the cities for the children of Merari by their families, which were remaining of the families of the Levites, were by their lot twelve 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 families called “remaining” still receive a concrete place: what remains is included in the allotment.
THE MEANING
What remains in your life is not automatically outside the order of belonging. The verse gives the remaining families an actual place: twelve cities, assigned by lot. What is left is still counted within the shared inheritance.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that what remains is merely leftover and therefore has no place dissolves here: the remaining families receive a real allotment.
THE ROOT
הַנּוֹתָרִים
hanotarim
GROWS FROM
יתר
y-t-r
To remain, be left over, or be more than what is needed.
“remaining” in this verse is hanotarim. The same root forms יִתְרוֹן (yitron), “surplus” or “advantage,” connecting what remains with what is left beyond a measure. Here, the remainder is named and receives twelve cities: being left does not mean being left out.
ALSO GROWS
yitron: Surplus, advantage, profit
יִתְרוֹן
This branch shows that what remains can be counted as an actual portion, not dismissed as excess.
hotir: To leave over, cause to remain
הוֹתִיר
This form makes the root active: something is left in place, and the verse names those who remain as recipients of a place.
THE PATTERN
Belonging becomes visible when a portion is given a place within a larger order.
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.The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot.And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;THE THREAD
What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?The word translated “profit” is יִתְרוֹן (yitron), “surplus” or “advantage,” from the same root יתר (y-t-r) as “remaining.” The shared root opens a question about what is left over; Joshua’s verse gives the remaining families a concrete portion of twelve cities.
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