Deuteronomy 19:7

Complete Jewish Bible

This is why I am ordering you to set aside for yourselves three cities.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
This is why I am commanding you to set apart three cities for yourselves.

Hebrew Names Version
Therefore I command you, saying, You shall set apart three cities for you.

King James Version
Wherefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt separate three cities for thee.

Lexham English Bible
Therefore I am commanding you, saying, ‘You shall set apart three cities.'

English Standard Version
Therefore I command you, You shall set apart three cities.

New Century Version
This is why I command you to choose these three cities.

New English Translation
Therefore, I am commanding you to set apart for yourselves three cities.

Amplified Bible
"Therefore, I command you, saying, 'You shall set aside three cities [of refuge] for yourself.'

New American Standard Bible
"Therefore I command you, saying, 'You shall set aside for yourself three cities.'

Geneva Bible (1587)
Wherefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt appoint out three cities for thee.

Legacy Standard Bible
Therefore, I am commanding you, saying, ‘You shall set apart three cities for yourself.'

Contemporary English Version
That's why I said there must be three Safe Towns.

Darby Translation
Therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt separate three cities for thyself.

Easy-to-Read Version
That is why I commanded you to choose three special cities.

George Lamsa Translation
Therefore I command you, saying, You shall set apart three cities for you.

Good News Translation
This is why I order you to set aside three cities.

Literal Translation
On account of this I am commanding you, saying, You shall separate to yourself three cities.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Therfore commaunde I the, that thou appoynte out thre cities.

American Standard Version
Wherefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt set apart three cities for thee.

Bible in Basic English
And so I am ordering you to see that three towns are marked out for this purpose.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Wherfore I commaunde thee, saying: Thou shalt appoynt out three cities for thee.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Wherefore I command thee, saying: 'Thou shalt separate three cities for thee.'

King James Version (1611)
Wherefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt separate three cities for thee.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Therefore I charge thee, saying, Thou shalt separate for thy self three cities.

English Revised Version
Wherefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt separate three cities for thee.

Berean Standard Bible
This is why I am commanding you to set apart for yourselves three cities.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Therfor Y comaunde to thee, that thou departe thre citees of euene space bitwixe hem silf.

Young's Literal Translation
therefore I am commanding thee, saying, Three cities thou dost separate to thee.

Update Bible Version
Therefore I command you, saying, You shall set apart three cities for yourself.

Webster's Bible Translation
Wherefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt separate three cities for thee.

World English Bible
Therefore I command you, saying, You shall set apart three cities for you.

New King James Version
Therefore I command you, saying, "You shall separate three cities for yourself.'

New Living Translation
That is why I am commanding you to set aside three cities of refuge.

New Life Bible
So I tell you, ‘Set apart three cities for yourself.'

New Revised Standard
Therefore I command you: You shall set apart three cities.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
For this cause, am I commanding thee saying, - Three cities, shalt thou set apart for thee.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Therefore I command thee, that thou separate three cities at equal distance one from another.

Revised Standard Version
Therefore I command you, You shall set apart three cities.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Therefore, I command you, saying, 'You shall set aside three cities for yourself.'

Contextual Overview

¹ "When Adonai your God cuts off the nations whose land Adonai your God is giving you, and you take their place and settle in their cities and houses, ² you are to set aside three cities for yourselves in your land that Adonai your God is giving you to possess. ³ Divide the territory of your land, which Adonai your God is having you inherit, into three parts; and prepare the roads, so that any killer can flee to these cities. ⁴ The killer who will live if he flees there is someone who has killed his fellow member of the community by mistake, who did not hate him in the past. ⁵ An example would be if a man goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood and takes a stroke with the axe to fell a tree, but the head of the axe flies off the handle, hits his neighbor and kills him. Then he is to flee to one of these cities and live there. ⁶ Otherwise the next-of-kin avenger, in the heat of his anger, may pursue the killer, overtake him because the distance [to the city of refuge] is long, and strike him dead — even though he didn't deserve to die, inasmuch as he hadn't hated him in the past. ⁷ This is why I am ordering you to set aside for yourselves three cities. ⁸ "If Adonai your God expands your territory, as he swore to your ancestors that he would, and gives you all the land he promised to give to your ancestors — ⁹ provided you keep and observe all these mitzvot I am giving you today, loving Adonai your God and always following his ways — then you are to add three more cities for yourselves, besides these three; ¹⁰ so that innocent blood will not be shed in the land Adonai your God is giving you as an inheritance, and thus blood guilt be on you.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Cross-References

Genesis 19:4
But before they could go to bed, the men of the city surrounded the house — young and old, everyone from every neighborhood of S'dom.

Genesis 19:9
"Stand back!" they replied. "This guy came to live here, and now he's decided to play judge. For that we'll deal worse with you than with them!" Then they crowded in on Lot, in order to get close enough to break down the door.

Genesis 19:11
Then they struck the men at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they couldn't find the doorway.

Genesis 19:23
By the time Lot had come to Tzo‘ar, the sun had risen over the land.

Genesis 19:24
Then Adonai caused sulfur and fire to rain down upon S'dom and ‘Amora from Adonai out of the sky.

Leviticus 18:22
(RY: iv, LY: vii) "‘You are not to go to bed with a man as with a woman; it is an abomination.

Leviticus 20:13
If a man goes to bed with a man as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they must be put to death; their blood is on them.

Deuteronomy 23:17
Allow him to stay with you, in whichever place suits him best among your settlements; do not mistreat him.

Judges 19:23
The man whose house it was went out and said to them, "No, my brothers, please don't do anything as wrong as this. Look, he's just a guest in my house; don't do this degrading thing.

Acts 17:26
"From one man he made every nation living on the entire surface of the earth, and he fixed the limits of their territories and the periods when they would flourish.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Wherefore I command thee, saying, thou shalt separate three cities for thee. This was to be done immediately, as soon as they were settled in the land of Canaan, and established in the possession of it, the inhabitants being cut off, or driven out, or however subdued.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

This and the next two chapters contain enactments designed to protect human life, and to impress its sanctity on Israel.

In Deuteronomy 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).

Deuteronomy 19:1, Deuteronomy 19:2

The three cities of refuge for the district east of Jordan had been already named. Moses now directs that when the territory on the west of Jordan had been conquered, a like allotment of three other cities in it should be made. This was accordingly done; compare Joshua 20:1 ff,

Deuteronomy 19:3

Thou shalt prepare thee a way - It was the duty of the Senate to repair the roads that led to the cities of refuge annually, and remove every obstruction. No hillock was left, no river over which there was not a bridge; and the road was at least 32 cubits broad. At cross-roads there were posts bearing the words Refuge, Refuge, to guide the fugitive in his flight. It seems as if in Isaiah 40:3 ff the imagery were borrowed from the preparation of the ways to the cities of refuge.

Deuteronomy 19:5

With the axe - literally, “with the iron.” Note the employment of iron for tools, and compare Deuteronomy 3:11 note.

Deuteronomy 19:8, Deuteronomy 19:9

Provision is here made for the anticipated enlargement of the borders of Israel to the utmost limits promised by God, from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates (Genesis 15:18, note; Exodus 23:31, note). This promise, owing to the sins of the people, did not receive its fulfillment until after David had conquered the Philistines, Syrians, etc.; and this but a transient one, for many of the conquered peoples regained independence on the dissolution of Solomon’s empire.