What Does Numbers 35:15 Mean in the King James?
These six cities shall be a refuge, both for the children of Israel, and for the stranger, and for the sojourner among them: that every one that killeth any person unawares may flee thither.
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
Refuge is open both to the outsider and to the person whose act caused a death without intent.
THE MEANING
When a death comes through an act without intent, refuge remains available. It extends to the Israelite, the stranger, and the sojourner among them; a person’s standing in the community does not decide whether refuge is open.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that causing a death without intent leaves no place to flee, or that refuge belongs only to insiders.
THE ROOT
בִּשְׁגָגָה
bishgagah
GROWS FROM
שׁגג
To stray or err; to act unintentionally.
The word for “unawares” carries the sense of an error or misstep. The root distinguishes lack of intent without making the death itself disappear.
ALSO GROWS
shegagah: Inadvertence; an unintentional error.
שְׁגָגָה
This is the noun form used here: the killing happens through error, rather than design.
shogeg: A person who acts unintentionally.
שׁוֹגֵג
The same root can describe the person by the inadvertence of the act, clarifying why refuge is provided.
גֵּר
ger
GROWS FROM
גור
To sojourn or dwell as a resident outsider.
“Stranger” here is a person living among the community, not someone beyond its reach. The root links the outsider’s place of residence to the refuge’s reach.
ALSO GROWS
gur: To sojourn or dwell as an outsider.
גּוּר
The verb describes the resident life behind the noun “stranger.”
megurim: Sojournings or places of sojourn.
מְגוּרִים
This related form ties the root to the place where a person lives, underscoring that the stranger is among the community.
תּוֹשָׁב
toshav
GROWS FROM
ישב
To sit, remain, or dwell.
The paired “stranger” and “sojourner” name people living among Israel in different ways. The verse extends refuge across those distinctions of residence.
ALSO GROWS
yashav: To sit or dwell.
יָשַׁב
This verb is the root’s basic image of remaining in a place.
moshav: A dwelling place or settlement.
מוֹשָׁב
This related noun makes the root’s connection to residence concrete.
THE PATTERN
Refuge gives a place to flee when unintended harm or danger leaves someone exposed.
And if a man lie not in wait, but God deliver him into his hand; then I will appoint thee a place whither he shall flee.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
Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a soul shall sin through ignorance against any of the commandments of the LORD concerning things which ought not to be done, and shall do against any of them:Leviticus uses the same Hebrew word, שְׁגָגָה (shegagah, inadvertence), translated here as “through ignorance.” The shared root reveals how the text distinguishes an act done in error from deliberate action, while still naming its consequence.
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