What Does Joshua 21:9 Mean in the King James?
And they gave out of the tribe of the children of Judah, and out of the tribe of the children of Simeon, these cities which are here mentioned by name,
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 gift here is a place: the Hebrew verb for “gave” also carries the sense of setting something in place, so provision becomes somewhere to dwell.
THE MEANING
Provision takes a concrete shape here: what one part of the community holds becomes a place for another. The cities remain particular, named places even as their use is shared.
THE ROOT
וַיִּתְּנוּ
vayyittenu
GROWS FROM
נתן
n-t-n
Give, set, place.
“gave” in this verse is vayyittenu. The verb נתן (natan, to give or set) links generosity with placement: what is given is set within another’s reach. Here, the gift is not abstract; it becomes a place to live.
ALSO GROWS
mattanah: Gift
מַתָּנָה
A gift from this root can be something concrete that becomes available to another, as these cities do.
netinah: Giving; an act of giving
נְתִינָה
This branch highlights the transfer itself: the cities move from one community’s inheritance into another’s dwelling.
THE PATTERN
What one part of a community holds becomes provision for another when it is given a concrete place in shared life.
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.And laid them down at the apostles’ feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.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.The same root, נתן (natan, to give or set), describes the transfer of cities in both verses. The connection makes the gift tangible: territory is placed into another group’s daily life.
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