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

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.

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

All of these cities were fortified by high walls, gates, and locking bars; ¹  in addition there were a great many open villages. ² 

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. ¹ 

What is going to happen to us? Our brothers have drained away our courage ¹  by describing people who are more numerous ²  and taller than we are, and great cities whose defenses appear to be as high as heaven ³  itself! Moreover, they said they saw ⁴  Anakites ⁵  there.”

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,

and then you are careful to observe all these commandments ¹  I am giving ²  you today (namely, to love the Lord your God and to always walk in his ways), then you must add three more cities ³  to these three.