Joshua 21:32

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex) Joshua 21:32 appears in the Hebrew Old Testament. The text above is from the Westminster Leningrad Codex. Each word links to its Strong’s number, a concise gloss, and parsing drawn from the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible morphology. Click any word for its full Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB) entry.
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Joshua 21:32 (World English Bible). Public Domain. Lemma interlinear Bible study tool, https://lemma.gebible.app/v/joshua/21/32.

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English Translation
Out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its suburbs, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Hammothdor with its suburbs, and Kartan with its suburbs; three cities.
World English Bible · Public Domain
Highlights
  • 1 hapax legomenon — only here in the Hebrew Bible
  • 2 first appearances in the Hebrew Bible
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Compare translations 3

The same verse in 3 English versions, stacked beneath the original-language interlinear above. Click any original word for its lexicon entry.

Each is an independent rendering of the whole verse — the interlinear is not word-aligned to these translations.

Highlighted words mark where these versions differ — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment.

  • World English Bible Public Domain
    Out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its suburbs, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Hammothdor with its suburbs, and Kartan with its suburbs; three cities.
  • King James Version Public Domain
    And out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with her suburbs, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Hammothdor with her suburbs, and Kartan with her suburbs; three cities.
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
    And from the tribe of Naphtali, a city of refuge of one having killed, Kedesh in Galilee and its pasturelands, and Hammoth Dor and its pasturelands and Kartan and its pasturelands: three cities.

unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult).

Versions to compare (up to 4)

3 of 4 selected

Show all 18 translations

Every available English version of this verse, each an independent rendering of the whole verse.

  • World English Bible Public Domain
    Out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its suburbs, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Hammothdor with its suburbs, and Kartan with its suburbs; three cities.
  • Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
    And from the tribe of Naphtali they were given Kedesh in Galilee (a city of refuge for the manslayer), Hammoth-dor, and Kartan—three cities, together with their pasturelands.
  • Majority Standard Bible Public Domain
    And from the tribe of Naphtali they were given Kedesh in Galilee (a city of refuge for the manslayer), Hammoth-dor, and Kartan—three cities, together with their pasturelands.
  • King James Version Public Domain
    And out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with her suburbs, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Hammothdor with her suburbs, and Kartan with her suburbs; three cities.
  • American Standard Version (1901) Public Domain
    And out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its suburbs, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Hammoth-dor with its suburbs, and Kartan with its suburbs; three cities.
  • Revised Version (1885) Public Domain
    And out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with her suburbs, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Hammoth-dor with her suburbs, and Kartan with her suburbs; three cities.
  • Geneva Bible (1599) Public Domain
    And out of the tribe of Naphtali, the citie of refuge for the slaier, Kedesh in Galil with her suburbes, and Hammoth-dor with her suburbes, and Kartan with her suburbes: three cities.
  • Douay-Rheims (1899) Public Domain
    Of the tribe also of Nephtali, Cedes in Galilee, one of the cities of refuge: and Hammoth Dor, and Carthan, with their suburbs, three cities.
  • Young's Literal Translation Public Domain
    And out of the tribe of Naphtali, the city of refuge `for' the man-slayer, Kedesh in Galilee and its suburbs, and Hammoth-Dor and its suburbs, and Kartan and its suburbs -- three cities;
  • Literal Standard Version CC BY-SA 4.0
    And out of the tribe of Naphtali, the city of refuge [for] the manslayer, Kedesh in Galilee and its outskirts, and Hammoth-Dor and its outskirts, and Kartan and its outskirts—three cities;
  • Unlocked Literal Bible CC BY-SA 4.0
    From the tribe of Naphtali, they gave the clans of Gershon Kedesh in Galilee with its pasturelands—a city of refuge for anyone who killed another unintentionally; Hammoth Dor with its pasturelands, and Kartan with its pasturelands—three cities in all.
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
    And from the tribe of Naphtali, a city of refuge of one having killed, Kedesh in Galilee and its pasturelands, and Hammoth Dor and its pasturelands and Kartan and its pasturelands: three cities.
  • Darby Bible Public Domain
    and out of the tribe of Naphtali, the city of refuge for the slayer, Kedesh in Galilee, and its suburbs; and Hammoth-Dor and its suburbs, and Kartan and its suburbs: three cities.
  • World Messianic Bible Public Domain
    Out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its pasture lands, the city of refuge for the man slayer, Hammothdor with its pasture lands, and Kartan with its pasture lands: three cities.
  • Webster's Bible Public Domain
    And out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its suburbs, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Hammoth-dor with its suburbs, and Kartan with its suburbs; three cities.
  • Free Bible Version CC BY-SA 4.0
    From the tribe of Naphtali the following three towns and their pastures: Kedesh in Galilee (a sanctuary town for those who accidentally committed murder), Hammoth-dor, and Kartan.
  • Bible in Basic English Public Domain
    And from the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its grass-lands, the town where the taker of life might be safe, and Hammoth-dor and Kartan with their grass-lands, three towns.
  • JPS Tanakh (1917) Public Domain
    And out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with the open land about it, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Hammoth-dor with the open land about it, and Kartan with the open land about it; three cities.

Literal Standard Version (2020), Covenant Press — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). Unlocked Literal Bible (unfoldingWord) — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult). Free Bible Version, Dr. Jonathan Gallagher — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org).

Word by word

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קַרְתָּ֖ן
Qartân
H7178
“Kartan”
Noun, Proper
Part of Speech
Noun
Type
Proper
Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H7176

TWOT: None

Kartan = "two cities" - a town in Naphtali allotted to the Gershonite Levites - also 'Kirjathaim'
  1. וּמִמַּטֵּ֨ה maṭṭeh H4294 “and · from · staff of” Conjunction + Preposition + Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct
  2. נַפְתָּלִ֜י Naphtâlîy H5321 “Naphtali” Noun, Proper
  3. אֶת ʼêth H853 “-” Particle, Direct Object
  4. עִ֣יר ʻîyr H5892 “city of” Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Construct
  5. מִקְלַ֣ט miqlâṭ H4733 “refuge of” Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct
  6. הָֽרֹצֵ֗חַ râtsach H7523 “the · murdering” Particle, Definite Article + Verb, Qal, Participle Active, Masculine, Singular, Absolute
  7. אֶת ʼêth H853 “-” Particle, Direct Object
  8. קֶ֨דֶשׁ Qedesh H6943 “Kedesh” Noun, Proper
  9. בַּגָּלִ֤יל Gâlîyl H1551 “in/at the · Galilee” Preposition, Determined + Noun, Proper
  10. וְאֶת ʼêth H853 “and · -” Conjunction + Particle, Direct Object
  11. מִגְרָשֶׁ֨הָ֙ migrâsh H4054 “common lands · her” Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct + Suffix, Personal, 3rd Person, Feminine, Singular
  12. וְאֶת ʼêth H853 “and · -” Conjunction + Particle, Direct Object
  13. חַמֹּ֥ת Chammôth Dôʼr H2576 “Hammath-dor” Noun, Proper
  14. דֹּאר֙ Chammôth Dôʼr H2576 “Hammath-dor” Noun, Proper
  15. וְאֶת ʼêth H853 “and · -” Conjunction + Particle, Direct Object
  16. מִגְרָשֶׁ֔הָ migrâsh H4054 “common lands · her” Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct + Suffix, Personal, 3rd Person, Feminine, Singular
  17. וְאֶת ʼêth H853 “and · -” Conjunction + Particle, Direct Object
  18. וְאֶת ʼêth H853 “and · -” Conjunction + Particle, Direct Object
  19. מִגְרָשֶׁ֑הָ migrâsh H4054 “common lands · her” Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct + Suffix, Personal, 3rd Person, Feminine, Singular
  20. עָרִ֖ים ʻîyr H5892 “cities” Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Absolute
  21. שָׁלֹֽשׁ shâlôwsh H7969 “three” Adjective, Cardinal number, Feminine, Singular, Absolute

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

22
words
12
distinct lemmas
Historical
section

Notable vocabulary

1 hapax legomenon — a word that appears only here in the entire Hebrew Bible:

  • קַרְתָּ֖ן Kartan H7178

First appearance in Scripture

These words make their first canonical appearance in the Hebrew Bible here:

  • חַמֹּ֥ת Hammath-dor H2576
  • קַרְתָּ֖ן Kartan H7178

Grammatical profile

  • 1 verb
  • 13 nouns
  • 1 adjective
  • 7 particles

Verb forms

  • הָֽרֹצֵ֗חַ Qal · Participle Active

Repetition

Words recur within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

  • מִגְרָשֶׁ֨הָ֙ common land H4054 ×3
  • עִ֣יר city H5892 ×2
  • חַמֹּ֥ת Hammath-dor H2576 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 31 words from the Hebrew and 31 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — the same length.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 22 Hebrew tokens and 35 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

4

Topical passages linked to Joshua 21:32 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

  • Joshua 20:7 They set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill-country of Naphtali, and Shechem in the hill-country of Ephraim, and Kiriath Arba (the same is Hebron) in the hill-country of Judah.
  • 1 Chronicles 6:76 and out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its suburbs, and Hammon with its suburbs, and Kiriathaim with its suburbs.
  • Joshua 19:35 The fortified cities were Ziddim, Zer, and Hammath, Rakkath, and Chinnereth,
  • Joshua 19:37 and Kedesh, and Edrei, and En Hazor,

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Joshua 21:32 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וּמִמַּטֵּ֨ה נַפְתָּלִ֜י אֶת עִ֣יר מִקְלַ֣ט הָֽרֹצֵ֗חַ אֶת קֶ֨דֶשׁ בַּגָּלִ֤יל וְאֶת מִגְרָשֶׁ֨הָ֙ וְאֶת חַמֹּ֥ת דֹּאר֙ וְאֶת מִגְרָשֶׁ֔הָ וְאֶת קַרְתָּ֖ן וְאֶת מִגְרָשֶׁ֑הָ עָרִ֖ים שָׁלֹֽשׁ

Out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its suburbs, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Hammothdor with its suburbs, and Kartan with its suburbs; three cities.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Joshua 21:32 Septuagint · lemma form

καί ἐκ ὁ φυλή νεφθαλι ὁ πόλις ὁ ἀποὁρίζω ὁ φονεύω ὁ καδες ἐν ὁ γαλιλαία καί ὁ ἀποὁρίζω αὐτός καί ὁ εμμαθ καί ὁ ἀποὁρίζω αὐτός καί θεμμων καί ὁ ἀποὁρίζω αὐτός πόλις τρεῖς

And of the tribe of Nephthali, the city set apart for the slayer, Cades in Galilee, and its suburbs; and Nemmath, and its suburbs; and Themmon and its suburbs; three cities.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

1

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

  1. Targum Jonathan Prophets (Joshua–Malachi)
    וּמִשִׁבְטָא דְנַפְתָּלִי יַת קִרְיַת שֵׁזָבוּת קָטוֹלָא יַת קֶדֶשׁ בְּגָלִיל וְיַת רְוָחָהָא וְיַת חַמוֹת דֹאר וְיַת רְוָחָהָא וְיַת קַרְתָּן וְיַת רְוָחָהָא קִרְוִין תְּלָת:

    (no public-domain English translation for this verse)

    Targum Jonathan — Aramaic: “Mikraot Gedolot” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “London "Chaldee Paraphrase," 1871” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Joshua 21:32 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Geneva Bible (1599)

Geneva Bible translators

Or, Galilee.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

32. Kedesh in Galilee] See ch. Jos_19:37; Hammoth-dor, Jos_19:35; Kartan = Rakkath, ch. Jos_19:35, and written Kirjathaim, 1Ch_6:76.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

And out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with her suburbs,.... Of which see Jos 20:7,

to be a city of refuge for the slayer; this is the fourth city of refuge mentioned:

and Hammothdor with her suburbs; the same with Hammon, Ch1 6:76; and with Hammath, Jos 19:35; and is thought by some to be Tiberias, so called from the hot baths in or near it:

and Kartan with her suburbs; called Kirjathaim, Ch1 6:76; but cannot be the Kirjathaim in Num 32:37; for that belonged to the tribe of Reuben, and was on the other side Jordan:

three cities; this being a lesser tribe than some others gave fewer cities, according to the rule in Num 35:8.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The Pulpit Commentary

Galilee. (see above, Jos_20:7)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

unfoldingWord translationNotes

Door43 World Missions Community

From the tribe of Naphtali, they gave the clans of Gershon Kedesh

This can be stated in active form. AT: "The clans of Gershon received from the tribe of Naphtali Kedesh" (See: Active or Passive)

Gershon

This is the name of a person. (See: How to Translate Names)

Hammoth Dor ... Kartan

These are names of cities. (See: How to Translate Names)

thirteen cities in all

"13 cities in total" (See: Numbers)

translationWords

Naphtali

Kedesh

Galilee

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Joshua, in the Historical, opens this verse with 22 words (12 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is Qartân (“Kartan”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

  1. What does “Kartan” (Qartân) contribute to the verse as a whole?
  2. This verse holds 1 word here found nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible. What might the rare word draw attention to?
  3. 2 words here appear for the first time in Scripture. What is being introduced at this debut?
  4. Joshua 20:7 shares this passage’s theme. How do the two illuminate each other?
  5. “common land” occurs 3× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
  6. These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
  7. The verb «הָֽרֹצֵ֗חַ» is Qal Participle Active. How does its form color the action?
  8. Reading how Geneva Bible (1599) and The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

  • 1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible.
  • 2 words make their first canonical appearance in Scripture here.
  • This verse counts 22 Hebrew ↔ 35 Greek words.
  • These translations choose different wording for 11 words in this verse.
  • “common land” occurs 3× in this single verse.

Reading settings

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Old Testament
Old Testament edition

Read the OT as the Masoretic Hebrew (MT) or the Greek Septuagint (LXX).

English shown for the Greek Septuagint (in the Hebrew ↔ Greek comparison).

Comparing translations? Open the Compare panel on any verse page to stack up to four side by side.