Deuteronomy 19:1

Cities of Refuge

1 "When the Lord your God annihilates the nations whose land He is giving you, so that you drive them out and live in their cities and 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 annihilates the nations whose land He is giving you, so that you drive them out and live in their cities and houses,

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

3 You are to determine the distances and divide the land the Lord your God is granting you as an inheritance into three regions, so that anyone who commits manslaughter can flee to these cities.

4 "Here is the law concerning a case of someone who kills a person and flees there to save his life, having killed his neighbor accidentally without previously hating him:

5 If he goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut timber, and his hand swings the ax to chop down a tree, but the blade flies off the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies, that person may flee to one of these cities and live.