Bible Strands
Joshua 20:6
He is to stay in that city until he stands trial before the assembly and until the death of the high priest serving at that time. Then the manslayer may return to his own home in the city from which he fled.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Joshua instructs the Israelites on the conditions for a manslayer's temporary asylum in the designated cities of refuge.
The words — וְיָשַׁב (ve./ya.Shav) translates to "and he will dwell," and עַד־עָמְדוֹ (ad-ame.D/o) means "until he stands," defining the precise duration of the manslayer's confinement before the assembly.
The thread — The requirement to stand trial before the congregation appears in Numbers 35:12 and Numbers 35:24.
Why it lands — The text mandates that the manslayer remain in the refuge city until the high priest dies, after which he may return to his original home. This creates a fixed temporal boundary for asylum that ensures legal resolution without permitting indefinite evasion.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And he shall dwell in that city, until he stand before the congregation for judgment, and until the death of the high priest that shall be in those days: then shall the slayer return, and come unto his own city, and unto his own house, unto the city from whence he fled.
Cross-references
- Numbers 35:12 You are to have these cities as a refuge from the avenger, so that the manslayer will not die until he stands trial before the assembly.
- Hebrews 9:26 Otherwise, Christ would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But now He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
- Numbers 35:24 then the congregation must judge between the slayer and the avenger of blood according to these ordinances.