The meaning of Town in the Bible
(From International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)
toun: This word is used to represent a number of different Hob terms in the Old Testament. (1) When any explanatory word or attendant circumstances show that a "city" was unwalled, and sometimes in the contrary case (I Samuel 23:7), the Hebrew 'ir is translated "town" by the King James Version, and the Revised Version (British and American) generally agrees with it (Deuteronomy 3:5; I Samuel 27:5; Esther 9:19). (2) Both the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American) translate chawwoth by "towns" (Numbers 32:41; Joshua 13:30; I Kings 4:13; I Chronicles 2:23), while chatserim and perazoth both appear in the King James Version as "towns," but in the Revised Version (British and American) as "villages" (Genesis 25:16; Zechariah 2:4). See HAVVOTH-JAIR. (3) Bath, literally, "daughter," is sometimes found in the plural between the name of a city and chatserim, "villages," as in Joshua 15:45 margin, "Ekron, with its daughters and its villages." "Towns" is evidently the appropriate translation, and, even without chatserim, bath is rendered "town" (the Revised Version (British and American) Numbers 21:25, etc.). The same use of "daughter" occurs also in the Greek of 1 Macc 5:65 (thugater), the King James Version "town," the Revised Version (British and American) "village," margin "daughter." (4) the King James Version and the English Revised Version gloss qir, "wall" in Joshua 2:15 by rendering it "town wall"; the American Standard Revised Version omits. (5) The Greek term komopoleis (Mark 1:38), being a combination of the words for "village" and "city," is a clear attempt to describe something between the two, and is well translated "town." (6) the King James Version uses "town" (Matthew 10:11 etc.) and "village" (Matthew 9:35, etc.) quite indifferently for kome; the Revised Version (British and American) has "village" throughout. For similar changes of the King James Version "town" compare 2 Macc 8:6 (chora); 11:5; 12:21 (chorion, the Revised Version (British and American) "place").
See CITY; VILLAGE.
W. M. Christie
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