Deuteronomy 4:41

The Narrative Concerning Cities of Refuge

4:41 Then Moses selected three cities in the Transjordan, toward the east.

Deuteronomy 19:2

19:2 you must set apart for yourselves three cities ¹  in the middle of your land that the Lord your God is giving you as a possession.

Deuteronomy 19:7

19:7 Therefore, I am commanding you to set apart for yourselves three cities.

Deuteronomy 3:5

3:5 All of these cities were fortified by high walls, gates, and locking bars; ²  in addition there were a great many open villages. ³ 

Deuteronomy 9:1

Theological Justification of the Conquest

9:1 Listen, Israel: Today you are about to cross the Jordan so you can dispossess the nations there, people greater and stronger than you who live in large cities with extremely high fortifications. ⁴ 

Deuteronomy 1:28

1:28 What is going to happen to us? Our brothers have drained away our courage ⁵  by describing people who are more numerous ⁶  and taller than we are, and great cities whose defenses appear to be as high as heaven ⁷  itself! Moreover, they said they saw ⁸  Anakites ⁹  there.”

Deuteronomy 6:10

Exhortation to Worship the Lord Exclusively

6:10 Then when the Lord your God brings you to the land he promised your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to give you – a land with large, fine cities you did not build,

Deuteronomy 19:9

19:9 and then you are careful to observe all these commandments ¹⁰  I am giving ¹¹  you today (namely, to love the Lord your God and to always walk in his ways), then you must add three more cities ¹²  to these three.

[19:2]  ¹ sn These three cities, later designated by Joshua, were Kedesh of Galilee, Shechem, and Hebron (Josh 20:7-9).

[3:5]  ¹ tn Or “high walls and barred gates” (NLT); Heb “high walls, gates, and bars.” Since “bars” could be understood to mean “saloons,” the qualifying adjective “locking” has been supplied in the translation.

[3:5]  ² tn The Hebrew term פְּרָזִי (pÿraziy) refers to rural areas, at the most “unwalled villages” (KJV, NASB “unwalled towns”).

[9:1]  ¹ tn Heb “fortified to the heavens” (so NRSV); NLT “cities with walls that reach to the sky.” This is hyperbole.

[1:28]  ¹ tn Heb “have caused our hearts to melt.”

[1:28]  ² tn Heb “greater.” Many English versions understand this to refer to physical size or strength rather than numbers (cf. “stronger,” NAB, NIV, NRSV; “bigger,” NASB).

[1:28]  ³ tn Or “as the sky.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

[1:28]  ⁴ tn Heb “we have seen.”

[1:28]  ⁵ tn Heb “the sons of the Anakim.”

[19:9]  ¹ tn Heb “all this commandment.” This refers here to the entire covenant agreement of the Book of Deuteronomy as encapsulated in the Shema (Deut 6:4-5).

[19:9]  ² tn Heb “commanding”; NAB “which I enjoin on you today.”

[19:9]  ³ sn You will add three more cities. Since these are alluded to nowhere else and thus were probably never added, this must be a provision for other cities of refuge should they be needed (cf. v. 8). See P. C. Craigie, Deuteronomy (NICOT), 267.