Deuteronomy 19:2

2 you shall set apart three cities for you in the midst of your land that Yahweh your God [is] giving to you to take possession of 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 Yahweh your God has {exterminated} the nations [concerning whom] Yahweh your God [is] giving to you their land, and you have dispossessed them, and you have settled in their towns and in their houses,

2 you shall set apart three cities for you in the midst of your land that Yahweh your God [is] giving to you to take possession of it.

3 You shall prepare the roads for yourselves, and you shall divide the regions of your land into thirds that Yahweh your God gives you as a possession, so that {it will be available for any manslayer to flee there}.

4 "Now this [is] the case of the manslayer who may flee there and live [there] who has killed his neighbor {unintentionally}, and he did not hate him {previously}.

5 {For example}, when somebody goes with his neighbor into the forest to cut wood, and the iron [head] slips from the handle [of the tool] and strikes his neighbor and he dies, [then] he may flee to one of these cities, and [so] he may live.