What Does Numbers 35:6 Mean in the King James?
And among the cities which ye shall give unto the Levites there shall be six cities for refuge, which ye shall appoint for the manslayer, that he may flee thither: and to them ye shall add forty and two 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 Hebrew root behind “to flee” also yields a word for “refuge,” binding the movement toward shelter to the shelter itself.
THE MEANING
This verse holds together the person who has caused a death and the need for refuge. Six cities give that flight a definite destination, joined to forty-two more in the wider city network; shelter has a place within shared life.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It loosens the assumption that naming someone a manslayer makes refuge impossible: the verse provides a place of flight while keeping the death in view.
THE ROOT
לָנֻס
lānūs
GROWS FROM
נוּס
nûs
flee, escape
The verse uses מִקְלָט (miqlat, refuge) for the cities and לָנֻס (lānūs, to flee) for the movement; elsewhere, the same root yields מָנוֹס (mānōs, refuge). That echo binds flight and shelter into one word-family: refuge belongs to the movement that reaches it.
ALSO GROWS
nās: he fled; one who flees
נָס
This verb form names the movement toward safety that the verse gives a destination.
mānōs: refuge; place of escape
מָנוֹס
This noun from the same root joins the act of fleeing to the shelter sought.
THE PATTERN
Scripture gives flight from danger a reachable place of refuge.
That the slayer that killeth any person unawares and unwittingly may flee thither: and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood.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
But I will sing of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning: for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble.Numbers 35:6 uses לָנֻס (lānūs, to flee); Psalm 59:16 uses מָנוֹס (mānōs, refuge), a noun from the same root. The word-family ties escape to the shelter it seeks, turning refuge into a destination for flight.
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