What Does Numbers 35:7 Mean in the King James?
So all the cities which ye shall give to the Levites shall be forty and eight cities: them shall ye give with their suburbs.
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
A city’s gift includes the open land around it; provision reaches past the walls.
THE MEANING
The verse holds dwelling and surrounding land together: the Levites receive forty-eight cities with the open ground around them. Their service has a material place within the community’s shared inheritance.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The idea that service requires material exclusion is undone here: the allotment includes both places to dwell and the land around them.
THE ROOT
וּמִגְרְשֵׁיהֶן
u-migrasheihen
GROWS FROM
גרש
Drive out or expel; מִגְרָשׁ (migrash) means open land around a town.
“suburbs” in this verse is u-migrasheihen. מִגְרָשׁ (migrash, open land around a town) is traditionally linked to גָּרַשׁ (garash, drive out or expel), perhaps carrying the image of space cleared beyond a settlement. Here the city and its surrounding land are given together, so the allotment extends beyond the walls.
ALSO GROWS
garash: Drive out, expel
גָּרַשׁ
This verb is the traditional root link behind migrash and gives an image of space opened beyond the town.
migrash: Open land or pasture around a city
מִגְרָשׁ
This is the noun’s sense here: each city’s allotment includes its surrounding ground.
לַלְוִיִּם
la-Leviyyim
GROWS FROM
לוה
Join, attach, accompany
The name Levi is linked in Genesis to לָוָה (lavah, join), and Numbers 18:2 uses the same root for the Levites being joined to Aaron’s service. The English label hides that joining echo; here, the joined community receives a place within Israel’s shared landscape.
ALSO GROWS
Levi: Joined
לֵוִי
Genesis 29:34 links the name to Leah’s words, “my husband be joined unto me.”
yillavu: They shall be joined
וְיִלָּווּ
Numbers 18:2 uses this form for the Levites being joined to Aaron and serving with him.
תִּתְּנוּ
tittenu
GROWS FROM
נתן
Give, set, place
The repeated word translated “give” comes from נָתַן (natan), which can also mean “set” or “place.” The allotment is provision placed within the community: cities and their surrounding ground are assigned together.
ALSO GROWS
natan: Give, grant
נָתַן
This is the root verb behind the repeated command to give the cities.
wayyitten: He set, placed
וַיִּתֵּן
Genesis 1:17 uses this same root when God “set” the lights in the firmament, showing the root’s sense of placing as well as giving.
THE PATTERN
Those who serve a community’s worship receive material provision from the community’s shared life.
And the cities which ye shall give shall be of the possession of the children of Israel: from them that have many ye shall give many; but from them that have few ye shall give few: every one shall give of his cities unto the Levites according to his inheritance which he inheriteth.The priests the Levites, and all the tribe of Levi, shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel: they shall eat the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and his inheritance. Therefore shall they have no inheritance among their brethren: the LORD is their inheritance, as he hath said unto them.Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar?THE THREAD
And thy brethren also of the tribe of Levi, the tribe of thy father, bring thou with thee, that they may be joined unto thee, and minister unto thee: but thou and thy sons with thee shall minister before the tabernacle of witness.The verb “joined” shares the root לוה (lavah, join or attach) linked to the name Levi, describing how the Levites are connected to the service. Numbers 35:7 gives this joined community cities and surrounding land, placing that service within shared life.
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