Deuteronomy 19:1

Cities of Refuge

1 When the LORD your God has cut off the nations whose land He is giving you, and when you have driven them out and settled in their cities and houses, ¹

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 has cut off the nations whose land He is giving you, and when you have driven them out and settled in their cities and houses,

2 then you are to set apart for yourselves three cities within the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.

3 You are to build roads for yourselves and divide into three regions the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, so that any manslayer can flee to these cities.

4 Now this is the situation regarding the manslayer who flees to one of these cities to save his life, having killed his neighbor accidentally, without intending to harm him:

5 If he goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut timber and swings his axe to chop down a tree, but the blade flies off the handle and strikes and kills his neighbor, he may flee to one of these cities to save his life.

Cross References

• 1. (Numbers 35:9–34; Deuteronomy 4:41–43; Joshua 20:1–9)