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Deuteronomy 19:2

in Deuteronomy 19

then you are to set apart for yourselves three cities within the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

thou shalt set apart three cities for thee in the midst of thy land, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee to possess it.

KJV

Thou shalt separate three cities for thee in the midst of thy land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it.

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This verse in Deuteronomy 19

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

Thou shalt separate three cities for thee in the midst of thy land--Goelism, or the duty of the nearest kinsmen to avenge the death of a slaughtered relative, being the customary law of that age (as it still is among the Arabs and other people of the East), Moses incorporated it in an improved form with his legislative code.

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

Thou shalt separate three cities for thee in the midst of thy land,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

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.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

Thou shalt separate three cities - See on Num 35:11 (note), etc.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

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.
Ramban: Spain, 1194–1270 · Ramban on Deuteronomy 19:1:1, via Sefaria, Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976

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

12 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • שָׁל֥וֹשׁthree

    shalooshH7969 →432 times

  • עָרִ֖יםcities

    ʾarimH5892 →1090 times

  • תַּבְדִּ֣ילyou will set apart

    tavdilH914 →42 times

  • לָ֑ךְfor <the> yourself

    lakh

  • בְּת֣וֹךְin [the] midst of

    betokhH8432 →418 times

  • אַרְצְךָ֔land your

    ʾartzekhaH776 →2504 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

  • לְרִשְׁתָּֽהּ׃to take possession of it

    lerishtahH3423 →231 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

5 in all, six open

The walk

8 stops

Each 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

    Hebrews 6:18

    Thus by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be strongly encouraged.

    it leads to

    • Numbers 23:19

      God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?

    • Titus 1:2

      in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began.

    • 1 Samuel 15:29

      Moreover, the Glory of Israel does not lie or change His mind, for He is not a man, that He should change His mind.”

    • 2 Timothy 2:13

      if we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.

    • Romans 3:4

      Certainly not! Let God be true and every man a liar. As it is written: “So that You may be proved right when You speak and victorious when You judge.”

  • Through

    Exodus 21:13

    If, however, he did not lie in wait, but God allowed it to happen, then I will appoint for you a place where he may flee.

    it leads to

    • Joshua 20:2–9

      “Tell the Israelites to designate the cities of refuge, as I instructed you through Moses,

    • 1 Samuel 24:18

      And you have shown this day how well you have dealt with me; for when the LORD delivered me into your hand, you did not kill me.

    • Deuteronomy 19:1–13

      When 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,

Where this verse is studied

About Deuteronomy

Moses Comes Down from Mount Sinai, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Moses Comes Down from Mount Sinai, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Deuteronomy: the study guide →Read Deuteronomy 19 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; 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.

Read on in Deuteronomy 19 →