Deuteronomy 19:7

Legacy Standard Bible

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

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.

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

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

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 Yahweh your God cuts off the nations, whose land Yahweh your God gives you, and you dispossess them and settle in their cities and in their houses, ²you shall set apart three cities for yourself in the midst of your land, which Yahweh your God gives you to possess. ³You shall prepare the roads for yourself, and divide into three parts the territory of your land which Yahweh your God will give you to inherit, so that any manslayer may flee there. ⁴"Now this is the case of the manslayer who may flee there and live: when he strikes down his friend without premeditation, not hating him previously— ⁵as when a man goes into the forest with his friend to cut wood, and his hand swings the axe to cut down the tree, and the iron head slips off the handle and strikes his friend so that he dies—he may flee to one of these cities and live; ⁶lest the avenger of blood pursue the manslayer when his heart is angry, and overtake him, because the way is long, and strike down his life, though he was not deserving of death, since he had not hated him previously. ⁷Therefore, I am commanding you, saying, ‘You shall set apart three cities for yourself.' ⁸"Now if Yahweh your God enlarges your territory, just as He has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land which He promised to give to your fathers— ⁹if you be careful to do all this commandment which I am commanding you today, to love Yahweh your God and to walk in His ways all your days—then you shall add three more cities for yourself, besides these three. ¹⁰So innocent blood will not be shed in the midst of your land which Yahweh your God gives you as an inheritance, and bloodguiltiness be on you.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Cross-References

Genesis 19:4
Before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, from young to old, all the people from every quarter;

Genesis 19:9
But they said, "Step aside." Furthermore, they said, "This one came to sojourn, and already he is persistently acting like a judge; now we will treat you more wickedly than them." So they pressed hard against Lot and stepped up to break the door.

Genesis 19:11
And they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, from small to great, so that they wearied themselves trying to find the doorway.

Genesis 19:23
The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar.

Genesis 19:24
And Yahweh rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Yahweh out of heaven,

Leviticus 18:22
And you shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.

Leviticus 20:13
If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltiness is upon them.

Deuteronomy 23:17
"None of the daughters of Israel shall be a cult prostitute, nor shall any of the sons of Israel be a cult prostitute.

Judges 19:23
and for others, save, snatching them out of the fire; and on others have mercy with fear, hating even the tunic polluted by the flesh.

Acts 17:26
and He made from one man every nation of mankind to inhabit all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,

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.