Deuteronomy 19:1

Cities of Refuge

1 "¹When the LORD your God cuts off the nations, whose land the LORD your God gives you, and you dispossess them and settle in their cities and in their houses,

Deuteronomy 19:1 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 19:1

When the Lord thy God hath cut off the nations whose land the
Lord thy God giveth thee
The seven nations of the land of Canaan, whose destruction was of the Lord for their sins, and whose land was a gift of him that had a right to dispose of it to the children of Israel; see ( Deuteronomy 12:29 )

and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their cities, and in their
houses;
should possess their land in their stead, by virtue of the gift of it to them by the Lord, and inhabit their cities and houses built by them.

Deuteronomy 19:1 In-Context

1 "When the LORD your God cuts off the nations, whose land the LORD your God gives you, and you dispossess them and settle in their cities and in their houses,

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

3 "You shall prepare the roads for yourself, and divide into three parts the territory of your land which the LORD your God will give you as a possession, so that any manslayer may flee there.

4 "Now this is the case of the manslayer who may flee there and live: when he kills his friend unintentionally , not hating him previously -

5 as 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;

Cross References

• 1. Deuteronomy 6:10, 11