Deuteronomy 19:2

2 thou shalt separate three cities for thee in the midst of thy land, which the LORD thy God gives thee to inherit.

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 thy God has cut off the Gentiles whose land the LORD thy God gives thee, and thou hast inherited them and dost dwell in their cities and in their houses,

2 thou shalt separate three cities for thee in the midst of thy land, which the LORD thy God gives thee to inherit.

3 Thou shalt prepare thee a way and divide the borders of thy land, which the LORD thy God gives thee to inherit, into three parts, so that every manslayer may flee there.

4 And this is the case of the manslayer who is to flee there, that he may live: whoever kills his neighbour by mistake, whom he hated not in time past;

5 and he who went into the woods with his neighbour to cut firewood and his hand fetched a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree and the head slipped from the handle and lighted upon his neighbour so that he died, he shall flee unto one of those cities and live,