Deuteronomy 19:1
in Deuteronomy 19When the LORD your God has cut off the nations whose land He is giving you, and when you have driven them out and settled in their cities and houses,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
When Jehovah thy God shall cut off the nations, whose land Jehovah thy God giveth thee, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their cities, and in their houses;
KJV
When the Lord thy God hath cut off the nations, whose land the Lord thy God giveth thee, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their cities, and in their houses;
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This verse in Deuteronomy 19
Commentary
4 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
This and the next two chapters contain enactments designed to protect human life, and to impress its sanctity on Israel. In Deu 19:1-13 the directions respecting the preparation of the roads to the cities of refuge, the provision of additional cities in case of an extension of territory, and the intervention of the elders as representing the congregation, are unique to Deuteronomy and supplementary to the laws on the same subject given in the earlier books (compare the marginal reference). Deu 19:1, Deu 19:2 The three cities of refuge for the district east of Jordan had been already named.
This site's exposition
hath cut off the nations
on Deuteronomy 19:1-7
Numbers 35:9-15 and Exodus 21:13 had already set these cities apart, and what this chapter adds is the road: thou shalt prepare thee a way, with the land divided into three parts so that distance never decides a case. Verse 6 gives the reason plainly, that the avenger overtakes the slayer while his heart is hot because the way is long. The statute then works one example at length, an axe head flying off the helve in the wood, and no other case here is given that much room. Numbers 35:25 holds the manslayer in the city until the death of the high priest, a clause this retelling does not repeat.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
When the Lord thy God hath cut off the nations whose land the Lord thy God giveth thee,.... The seven nations of the land of Canaan, whose destruction was of the Lord for their sins, and whose land was a gift of him that had a right to dispose of it to the children of Israel; see Deu 12:29. and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their cities, and in their houses; should possess their land in their stead, by virtue of the gift of it to them by the Lord, and inhabit their cities and houses built by them.
Thus Christ is not a refuge at a distance, which we must ascend to heaven or go down to the deep for, but the word is nigh us, and Christ in the word, Rom. x. The gospel brings salvation to our door, and there it knocks for admission.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
WHEN THE ETERNAL THY G-D SHALL CUT OFF THE NATIONS etc. THOU SHALT SEPARATE THREE CITIES FOR THEE. This also is an explanatory commandment, since He has already commanded thereon, 239 Exodus:13.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
17 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | if | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| יַכְרִ֞ית | yakhrit | he will cut off | H3772 → | 288 times |
| יְהוָ֤ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֱלֹהֶ֙יךָ֙ | ʾeloheikha | God your | H430 → | 2601 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הַגּוֹיִ֔ם | hagoyim | the nations | H1471 → | 561 times |
| אֲשֶׁר֙ | ʾasher | which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| יְהוָ֣ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ | ʾeloheikha | God your | H430 → | 2601 times |
| נֹתֵ֥ן | noten | [is] about to give | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| לְךָ֖ | lekha | to <the> you | ||
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| אַרְצָ֑ם | ʾartzam | land their | H776 → | 2504 times |
| וִֽירִשְׁתָּ֕ם | virishtam | and you will dispossess them | H3423 → | 231 times |
| וְיָשַׁבְתָּ֥ | veyashavta | and you will dwell | H3427 → | 1079 times |
| בְעָרֵיהֶ֖ם | veareihem | in cities their | H5892 → | 1090 times |
| וּבְבָתֵּיהֶֽם׃ | uvevateihem | and in houses their | H1004 → | 2046 times |
כִּֽי־if
ki-H3588 →4482 times
יַכְרִ֞יתhe will cut off
yakhritH3772 →288 times
יְהוָ֤הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֱלֹהֶ֙יךָ֙God your
ʾeloheikhaH430 →2601 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
הַגּוֹיִ֔םthe nations
hagoyimH1471 →561 times
אֲשֶׁר֙which
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
יְהוָ֣הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָGod your
ʾeloheikhaH430 →2601 times
נֹתֵ֥ן[is] about to give
notenH5414 →2011 times
לְךָ֖to <the> you
lekha
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
אַרְצָ֑םland their
ʾartzamH776 →2504 times
וִֽירִשְׁתָּ֕םand you will dispossess them
virishtamH3423 →231 times
וְיָשַׁבְתָּ֥and you will dwell
veyashavtaH3427 →1079 times
בְעָרֵיהֶ֖םin cities their
veareihemH5892 →1090 times
וּבְבָתֵּיהֶֽם׃and in houses their
uvevateihemH1004 →2046 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Deuteronomy 6:10And when the LORD your God brings you into the land He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that He would give you—a land with great and splendid cities that you…
it leads to
- Joshua 24:13
So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities that you did not build, and now you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you…
- Psalms 78:55
He drove out nations before them and apportioned their inheritance; He settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 105:44
He gave them the lands of the nations, that they might inherit the fruit of others’ labor,
- Nehemiah 9:25
They captured fortified cities and fertile land and took houses full of all goods, wells already dug, vineyards, olive groves, and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled; they grew fat…
- Genesis 26:3
Stay in this land as a foreigner, and I will be with you and bless you. For I will give all these lands to you and your offspring, and I will confirm the oath…
- Joshua 24:13
Through
Deuteronomy 17:14When you enter the land that the LORD your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “Let us set a king over us like…
it leads to
- 1 Samuel 8:19–20
Nevertheless, the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We must have a king over us.
- 1 Samuel 8:19–20
Through
Deuteronomy 12:29When the LORD your God cuts off before you the nations you are entering to dispossess, and you drive them out and live in their land,
it leads to
- Joshua 23:4
See, I have allotted as an inheritance to your tribes these remaining nations, including all the nations I have already cut off, from the Jordan westward to the Great Sea.
- Joshua 23:4
Through
Deuteronomy 12:1These are the statutes and ordinances you must be careful to follow all the days you live in the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess.
it leads to
- 1 Kings 8:40
so that they may fear You all the days they live in the land that You gave to our fathers.
- 1 Kings 8:40
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies4
On this verse
About Deuteronomy
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.