And the suburbs of the city shall be toward the north two hundred and fifty, and toward the south two hundred and fifty, and toward the east two hundred and fifty, and toward the west two hundred and fifty.
| Word | Hebrew | Strong’s | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| suburbs | מִגְרָשׁ֮ mig.Rash | H4054 | a suburb (i.e. open country whither flocks are driven f… · noun, common masculine singular absolute |
| city | לָעִיר֒ la.'Ir | H5892 | a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the wi… · preposition with the article + noun, common feminine singular absolute |
| north | צָפ֙וֹנָה֙ tza.Fo.nah | H6828 | properly · noun, common feminine singular absolute + directional suffix |
| hundred | וּמָאתַ֔יִם u.ma.Ta.yim | H3967 | a hundred · conjunction + cardinal number, feminine dual absolute |
| fifty | חֲמִשִּׁ֣ים cha.mi.Shim | H2572 | fifty · cardinal number, masculine plural absolute |
| south | וְנֶ֖גְבָּה ve.Neg.bah | H5045 | the south (from its drought) · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute + directional suffix |
| hundred | וּמָאתָ֑יִם u.ma.Ta.yim | H3967 | a hundred · conjunction + cardinal number, feminine dual absolute |
| fifty | חֲמִשִּׁ֣ים cha.mi.Shim | H2572 | fifty · cardinal number, masculine plural absolute |
| east | וְקָדִ֙ימָה֙ ve.ka.Di.mah | H6921 | the fore or front part · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute + directional suffix |
| hundred | וּמָאתַ֔יִם u.ma.Ta.yim | H3967 | a hundred · conjunction + cardinal number, feminine dual absolute |
| fifty | חֲמִשִּׁ֣ים cha.mi.Shim | H2572 | fifty · cardinal number, masculine plural absolute |
| west | וְיָ֖מָּה ve.Ya.mah | H3220 | a sea (as breaking in noisy surf) or large body of water · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute + directional suffix |
| hundred | וּמָאתָֽיִם u.ma.Ta.yim | H3967 | a hundred · conjunction + cardinal number, feminine dual absolute |
| fifty | חֲמִשִּׁ֥ים cha.mi.Shim | H2572 | fifty · cardinal number, masculine plural absolute |
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
The five thousand rods, apportioned to the city out of the twenty-five thousand square, are to be laid off in a square of four thousand five hundred, with the two hundred fifty all around for suburbs. profane--that is, not strictly sacred as the sacerdotal portions, but applied to secular uses.
And the five thousand that are left - The territory of the Levites was twenty-five thousand square cubits, Eze 48:20, But their city was only four thousand five hundred square cubits, see Eze 48:13 and Eze 48:16; there remained, therefore, ten thousand cubits square to be divided, of which five thousand cubits in breadth, by twenty-five thousand in length, on the east and west sides, were reserved for a sort of second city; or for suburbs where laymen might dwell who were employed by those priests and Levites who lodged in the temple and in the city, Eze 48:18. And another space of one thousand cubits in breadth, by twenty-five thousand in length, which extended only from north to south, was…
Read the whole note in the consoleAnd the suburbs of the city shall be toward the north two hundred and fifty,.... That is, so many reeds: and toward the south two hundred and fifty; which make five hundred; and these being added to four thousand five hundred, north and south, make five thousand: and toward the east two hundred and fifty, and toward the west two hundred and fifty; which being added to four thousand five hundred, east and west, make five thousand; and so an equilateral square on each side, length and breadth.
To the south was a narrower strip for public use where the city was located. The overall shape of the central area was thus a square. The city was a visible symbol and focus of unity for the twelve tribes, and home to residents from the various tribes.
(Verse 17.) The suburbs of the city on the north side shall be two hundred and fifty cubits in length, on the south side two hundred and fifty cubits in length, on the east side two hundred and fifty cubits in length, and on the west side two hundred and fifty cubits in length. As for the suburbs, which are called "Magras" in Hebrew, they have again transferred the distance of seventy times seventy cubits, that is, a space. And what is said, two hundred and fifty on each side, is understood to refer to reeds, which are six cubits and one palm in length, and on each side they make six hundred and seventeen and a little less steps, and in total one thousand reeds, making two thousand four hundred and sixty-eight steps: these spaces surround the walls of the city in a circle, so as to divide the city from the rest. From this it is shown that none of these spaces have the right to engage in the work of the city and to gather its fruits, but rather to be free from the use and work of men, so that the areas around the city walls, with their naturally growing shrubs and herbs, and other things that the land produces, may have beauty. But the remaining length, according to the holy area, shall be ten thousand cubits toward the east and ten thousand toward the west: and it shall be over against the holy sanctuary. And the fruits thereof shall be for food, and the leaf thereof for medicine. And the workers of the city, that work therein, shall serve it out of all the tribes of Israel. All the fruits thereof shall be for the service of the holy city, and the priests of the sanctuary, who shall go in and out of the house of the Lord, shall eat it. And it shall be a place for a habitation unto them. And the separated cities shall be in the midst of that which shall be for the possession of the prince: and the possession of the holy place shall be in the midst of the portion of the Levites. He wants to designate the remaining part of the firstfruits of the sanctuary, ten thousand baskets extending towards the East, and another ten thousand baskets extending towards the West, to be allocated to those who work for the city for various purposes, whatever the city needs: so that the workers who build or restore the city walls, when necessary, may be nourished from the crops that grow on this land, and so that the city may have its adornment and the repaired roofs be…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
The city shall have an open space All the ‘migrashim’ of the cities in Scripture are an open space with neither houses or fields.
Henry, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, Clarke, Gill, Calvin and Keil & Delitzsch are in the public domain; Tyndale Open Study Notes © Tyndale House Publishers, CC BY-SA 4.0 — all from the Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org). Rashi: the Rosenbaum & Silbermann Pentateuch (public domain) and the Judaica Press and Metsudah Tanakh (CC BY), via Sefaria. Spurgeon's Treasury of David: public domain (lyteword's markdown edition, CC0).
