Deuteronomy 19:2

2 you shall set apart three cities for you in the midst of your land, which the LORD your God gives you to possess it.

Deuteronomy 19:2 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 19:2

Thou shalt separate three cities for thee in the midst of thy
land
From the cities they took possession of and dwelt in; and indeed from the cities of the Levites, which were given to them to inhabit; three were before ordered to be separated from those inhabited by the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, ( Deuteronomy 4:41-43 ) but these were to be in the midst of the land of Canaan; see ( Joshua 20:7 Joshua 20:8 ) ,

which the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it:
which as it is often mentioned when this land is spoken of, so it carries in it a reason here why this order of the Lord's should be readily complied with, the whole land and all the cities of it being the gift of his to them.

Deuteronomy 19:2 In-Context

1 When the LORD your God shall cut off the nations, whose land the LORD your God gives you, and you succeed them, and dwell in their cities, and in their houses;

2 you shall set apart three cities for you in the midst of your land, which the LORD your God gives you to possess it.

3 You shall prepare you the way, and divide the borders of your land, which the LORD your God causes you to inherit, into three parts, that every manslayer may flee there.

4 This is the case of the manslayer, that shall flee there and live: whoever kills his neighbor unawares, and didn't hate him in time past;

5 as when a man goes into the forest with his neighbor to hew wood, and his hand fetches a stroke with the ax to cut down the tree, and the head slips from the handle, and lights on his neighbor, so that he dies; he shall flee to one of these cities and live: