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Joshua 20:4

in Joshua 20

When someone flees to one of these cities, stands at the entrance of the city gate, and states his case before its elders, they are to bring him into the city and give him a place to live among them.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And he shall flee unto one of those cities, and shall stand at the entrance of the gate of the city, and declare his cause in the ears of the elders of that city; and they shall take him into the city unto them, and give him a place, that he may dwell among them.

KJV

And when he that doth flee unto one of those cities shall stand at the entering of the gate of the city, and shall declare his cause in the ears of the elders of that city, they shall take him into the city unto them, and give him a place, that he may dwell among them.

This verse in Joshua 20

Commentary

6 notes on this verse
As soon as the manslayer presented himself at the city of refuge, the elders of the city were to hold an inquiry, and receive him provisionally into the city. Afterward, when the avenger of blood should have tracked his victim to the city, and appear to claim him, a more formal and thorough investigation Jos 20:6 was to be made. Consult the marginal references.

This site's exposition

stands at the entrance of the city gate

on Joshua 20:4-6

The elders sat at the gate to hear cases, so the man pleads before a court and his protection turns on a hearing. Verse 4 has the elders receive him, which Barnes reads as a provisional reception followed by the full trial. Release comes only at the high priest's death.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

The gate - Where the Judges used to sit. His cause - Shall give them a true relation of the fact, and all its circumstances. They shall take him - If they are satisfied in the relation he makes, concerning the fact, otherwise it had been a vain thing to examine.
And when he that doth flee unto one of those cities,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

By this law he was entitled to a dwelling in that city, was taken into the care of the government of it, but was confined to it, as prisoner at large; only, if he survived the high priest, then, and not till then, he might return to his own city.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

If found guilty, the manslayer was surrendered to the blood-avenger; if extenuating circumstances appeared, he was to remain in the city of refuge, where he would be safe from the vindictive feelings of his pursuers; but he forfeited the privilege of immunity the moment he ventured beyond the walls.

The words behind it

25 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וְנָ֞סand he will flee

    venasH5127 →159 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • אַחַ֣ת׀one

    ʾachatH259 →971 times

  • מֵהֶעָרִ֣יםof the cities

    mehearimH5892 →1090 times

  • הָאֵ֗לֶּה<the> these

    haelehH428 →746 times

  • וְעָמַד֙and he will stand

    veamadH5975 →521 times

  • פֶּ֚תַח[the] entrance of

    petachH6607 →164 times

  • שַׁ֣עַר[the] gate of

    shaarH8179 →374 times

  • הָעִ֔ירthe city

    hairH5892 →1090 times

  • וְדִבֶּ֛רand he will speak

    vediberH1696 →1141 times

  • בְּאָזְנֵ֛יin [the] ears of

    beazeneiH241 →

  • זִקְנֵ֥י־[the] elders of

    ziknei-H2205 →178 times

  • הָעִֽירthe city

    hair-H5892 →1090 times

  • הַהִ֖יא<the> that

    hahi'H1931 →1879 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • דְּבָרָ֑יוwords his

    devaravH1697 →1440 times

  • וְאָסְפ֨וּand they will gather

    veasefuH622 →200 times

  • אֹת֤וֹ<obj.> him

    ʾotoH853 →10935 times

  • הָעִ֙ירָה֙the city towards

    hairahH5892 →1090 times

  • אֲלֵיהֶ֔םto themselves

    ʾaleihemH413 →5510 times

  • וְנָתְנוּ־and they will give

    venatenu-H5414 →2011 times

  • ל֥וֹto <the> him

    lo

  • מָק֖וֹםa place

    makomH4725 →401 times

  • וְיָשַׁ֥בand he will dwell

    veyashavH3427 →1079 times

  • עִמָּֽם׃with them

    ʾimamH5973 →1050 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Hebrews 6:18

    Thus by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be strongly encouraged.

    it leads to

    • Numbers 23:19

      God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?

    • Titus 1:2

      in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began.

    • 1 Samuel 15:29

      Moreover, the Glory of Israel does not lie or change His mind, for He is not a man, that He should change His mind.”

    • 2 Timothy 2:13

      if we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.

    • Romans 3:4

      Certainly not! Let God be true and every man a liar. As it is written: “So that You may be proved right when You speak and victorious when You judge.”

  • Through

    Jeremiah 38:7

    Now Ebed-melech the Cushite, a court official in the royal palace, heard that Jeremiah had been put into the cistern. While the king was sitting at the Gate of Benjamin,

    it leads to

    • Amos 5:10

      There are those who hate the one who reproves in the gate and despise him who speaks with integrity.

    • Jeremiah 37:13

      But when he reached the Gate of Benjamin, the captain of the guard, whose name was Irijah son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah, seized him and said, “You are deserting to the Chaldeans!”

    • Jeremiah 29:2

      (This was after King Jeconiah, the queen mother, the court officials, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metalsmiths had been exiled from Jerusalem.)

Where this verse is studied

On this page

Studies2

On this chapter

About Joshua

Joshua Commanding the Sun to Stand Still upon Gibeon, John Martin, 1816, National Gallery of Art. Public domain.
Joshua Commanding the Sun to Stand Still upon Gibeon, John Martin, 1816, National Gallery of Art. Public domain.

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.