Archaic KJV Word
Refuge
Modern equivalent: safe space
What Was Lost
The mortal danger. You only need a refuge when something is trying to kill you. 'God is our refuge' was not 'God is our comfortable retreat' but 'God is the fortress we run to when the enemy is at the gates, the storm is about to destroy us, and there is nowhere else to hide.' Refuge assumed terror.
Closest Survivor in Modern English
refuge (still used poetically but the desperate, life-or-death urgency has faded)
Peak Usage (1611)
KJV Psalm 46:1 -- 'God is our refuge and strength'; Deuteronomy 33:27 -- 'The eternal God is thy refuge'
Died still used but institutionalized (~1900)
Hebrew machaseh ('shelter from deadly storm/hiding place from the hunter/fortified stronghold against the enemy') institutionalized into 'refugee camp' or 'wildlife refuge.' The desperate, life-saving urgency was lost to administrative language.
What Replaced It
“safe place”
Casual; machaseh was protection from mortal danger, not general safety
“shelter”
Physical structure; God as refuge meant the Almighty Himself was the hiding place
“sanctuary”
Peaceful setting; refuge was where you ran when the enemy was at your heels