The Fallible Synthetic Study Bible — Deuteronomy 19:1

✦ Public-domain source — quoted & attributed⚙ AI synthesis — generated, verify

Deuteronomy 19:1–14 — Cities of Refuge. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

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Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

We find that the three cities of refuge on the west of Jordan were appointed by Joshua after the conquest (Joshua 20). The first three on the east of Jordan, namely, Bezer, Ramoth-Gilead, and Golan, had already been selected by Moses ( Deuteronomy 4:41 , &c), but Joshua assigned them to their Levitical possessors.

Ellicott fixes the historical frame: three eastern cities already named under Moses (Deut 4:41), three western ones still to come under Joshua (Josh 20).

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Joseph BensonCommentary on the Old and New Testaments1810s

Moses now proceeds to inculcate some important duties belonging to the second table, but not in any exact order, nor without interspersing some precepts respecting ceremonial matters. He begins with some regulations appointed to secure the preservation of the most important part of the property of a fellow- creature, his life.

Benson reads the cities of refuge as the leading case of the sixth commandment — life as a man's most important 'property.'

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John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63

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

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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,

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

kî- Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā ’eṯ- yaḵ·rîṯ hag·gō·w·yim ’ă·šer ’ar·ṣām Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā nō·ṯên lə·ḵā ’eṯ- wî·riš·tām wə·yā·šaḇ·tā ḇə·‘ā·rê·hem ū·ḇə·ḇāt·tê·hem

Word by word17 · parsed

כִּֽי־kî-WhenH3588

√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction

kî- (H3588) — the conditional/temporal “when,” opening a protasis whose apodosis does not arrive until v. 2 (“then you are to set apart…”). The whole law is framed as a future contingency of settled life, not a present command.

יְהוָ֤הYah·wehthe LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular

אֱלֹהֶ֙יךָ֙’ĕ·lō·he·ḵāyour GodH430

√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseNounmasculine plural constructsecond person masculine singular

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

יַכְרִ֞יתyaḵ·rîṯhas cut offH3772

√ kârath — to cut (off, down or asunder)VerbHifilImperfectthird person masculine singular

yaḵ·rîṯ (H3772) — the agent is Yahweh: the imperfect Hifil keeps God as the one who cuts off the nations. ⚙ The law of refuge is thus grounded in a prior act of God: only because He has cleared the land does the question of innocent blood within it arise.

הַגּוֹיִ֔םhag·gō·w·yimthe nationsH1471

√ gôwy — a foreign nationArticleNounmasculine plural

אֲשֶׁר֙’ă·šerH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

אַרְצָ֑ם’ar·ṣāmwhose landH776

√ ʼerets — the earth (at large, or partitively a land)Nounfeminine singular constructthird person masculine plural

יְהוָ֣הYah·wehHeH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular

אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā. . .H430

√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseNounmasculine plural constructsecond person masculine singular

נֹתֵ֥ןnō·ṯênis givingH5414

√ nâthan — to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make, etcVerbQalParticiplemasculine singular

nō·ṯên (H5414) — the Qal participle “[is] giving,” a present-continuous gift. Gill stresses that the land “was a gift of him that had a right to dispose of it”; the recurring participle keeps the conquest from being read as bare human seizure.

לְךָ֖lə·ḵāyou

Prepositionsecond person masculine singular

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

וִֽירִשְׁתָּ֕םwî·riš·tāmand when you have driven them outH3423

√ yârash — to occupy (by driving out previous tenants, and possessing in their place)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectsecond person masculine singularthird person masculine plural

וְיָשַׁבְתָּ֥wə·yā·šaḇ·tāand settledH3427

√ yâshab — properly, to sit down (specifically as judgeConjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectsecond person masculine singular

בְעָרֵיהֶ֖םḇə·‘ā·rê·hemin their citiesH5892

√ ʻîyr — a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the widest sense (even of a mere encampment or post)Preposition-bNounfeminine plural constructthird person masculine plural

וּבְבָתֵּיהֶֽם׃ū·ḇə·ḇāt·tê·hemand housesH1004

√ bayith — a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etcConjunctive waw, Preposition-bNounmasculine plural constructthird person masculine plural

ū·ḇə·ḇāt·tê·hem (H1004), bayith — “and in their houses.” The pairing cities-and-houses signals total succession: Israel enters not raw ground but a furnished inheritance, dwelling where others dwelt.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

When the-LORD your-God shall-cut-off the-nations whose land the-LORD your-God [is]-giving to-you, and-you-have-dispossessed them and-settled in-their-cities and-in-their-houses,

Where the English smooths the original

יַכְרִ֞ית BSB's “has cut off” renders yaḵ·rîṯ (H3772), kârath — literally “to cut down, cut off, cut asunder.” It is the same violent verb used for cutting a covenant and for felling a tree (cf. v. 5, liḵ·rōṯ hā·‘êṣ). The nations are not merely removed but severed from the land by Yahweh's own hand.
וִֽירִשְׁתָּ֕ם The smooth “driven them out” compresses wî·riš·tām (H3423), yârash — “to occupy by driving out previous tenants and possessing in their place.” Dispossession and possession are a single act in the Hebrew: Israel does not simply expel — it inherits the place of those expelled.
וְיָשַׁבְתָּ֥ “Settled” flattens wə·yā·šaḇ·tā (H3427), yâshab — “to sit down,” and so “to dwell,” but also, notably, “to sit as judge.” The verb that opens the chapter on judicial refuge already carries the overtone of a people seated in a land where they must now administer justice.

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Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685

He saith, in the midst of the land , either for in the land , as in the midst of the city , Jeremiah 52:25 , is the same with that in the city , 2 Kings 25:19 , or to design the places, that they should be situated in the midst of the several parts of their land, to which they might conveniently and speedily flee from all the parts of the land.

Poole resolves the idiom: 'in the midst' = distributed across the regions, so the cities serve every quarter.

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Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871

Goelism, or the duty of the nearest kinsmen to avenge the death of a slaughtered relative, being the customary law of that age (as it still is among the Arabs and other people of the East), Moses incorporated it in an improved form with his legislative code.

JFB names the underlying institution — the blood-avenger (gōʼēl) — that the cities of refuge are designed to regulate rather than abolish.

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Joseph BensonCommentary on the Old and New Testaments1810s

In the midst of thy land — That is, in the midst of the several parts or districts of thy land, or within thy land; for had they been all three in the very heart of the country, the very intention of them would have been counteracted: which was, that they should be so conveniently placed in several parts of the country, that men might easily and speedily flee to them.

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

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

taḇ·dîl lāḵ šā·lō·wōš ‘ā·rîm bə·ṯō·wḵ ’ar·ṣə·ḵā ’ă·šer Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā nō·ṯên lə·ḵā lə·riš·tāh

Word by word12 · parsed

תַּבְדִּ֣ילtaḇ·dîlthen you are to set apartH914

√ bâdal — to divide (in variation senses literally or figuratively, separate, distinguish, differ, select, etcVerbHifilImperfectsecond person masculine singular

taḇ·dîl (H914) — the apodosis of v. 1's “when.” Cambridge glosses it simply “set apart,” tying it back to Deut 4:41 where Moses already “set apart” the three eastern cities with this very verb.

לָ֑ךְlāḵfor yourselves

Prepositionsecond person masculine singular

שָׁל֥וֹשׁšā·lō·wōšthreeH7969

√ shâlôwsh — threeNumberfeminine singular

šā·lō·wōš (H7969) — “three.” With the three already east of Jordan, the count reaches six; the conditional vv. 8–9 will raise it to a (never-realized) nine. The number is structural, not incidental: a triad per side of the river.

עָרִ֖ים‘ā·rîmcitiesH5892

√ ʻîyr — a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the widest sense (even of a mere encampment or post)Nounfeminine plural

בְּת֣וֹךְbə·ṯō·wḵwithinH8432

√ tâvek — a bisection, iPreposition-bNounmasculine singular construct

bə·ṯō·wḵ (H8432) — JFB: the cities were to be “conspicuous and accessible, and equidistant from the extremities of the land and from each other.” Geography is theology here: refuge must be reachable to be real.

אַרְצְךָ֔’ar·ṣə·ḵāthe landH776

√ ʼerets — the earth (at large, or partitively a land)Nounfeminine singular constructsecond person masculine singular

אֲשֶׁר֙’ă·šerthatH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

יְהוָ֣הYah·wehthe LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular

אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵāyour GodH430

√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseNounmasculine plural constructsecond person masculine singular

נֹתֵ֥ןnō·ṯênis givingH5414

√ nâthan — to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make, etcVerbQalParticiplemasculine singular

לְךָ֖lə·ḵāyou

Prepositionsecond person masculine singular

לְרִשְׁתָּֽהּ׃lə·riš·tāhto possessH3423

√ yârash — to occupy (by driving out previous tenants, and possessing in their place)Preposition-lVerbQalInfinitive constructthird person feminine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

three cities you-shall-set-apart for-yourself in-the-midst of-your-land that the-LORD your-God [is]-giving to-you to-possess-it.

Where the English smooths the original

תַּבְדִּ֣יל BSB's “set apart” is exact but easily missed: taḇ·dîl (H914), bâdal — the Hifil “to divide, separate, distinguish, select.” It is the verb of priestly separation (clean from unclean, holy from common). The cities of refuge are consecrated ground, set off by the same word that divides sacred from profane.
בְּת֣וֹךְ “Within” renders bə·ṯō·wḵ (H8432), tâvek — properly “in the bisection / very middle of.” Poole and Benson both press that this is not “in the heart of the country” but “in the midst of the several parts” — a deliberate distribution so no fugitive is ever far from sanctuary.
לְרִשְׁתָּֽהּ “To possess” compresses lə·riš·tāh (H3423, yârash) with its feminine suffix — “to possess it [the land].” The same root as “driven them out” in v. 1 returns: the land they dispossess they must now equip with mercy.

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Albert BarnesNotes on the Bible1834

It was the duty of the Senate to repair the roads that led to the cities of refuge annually, and remove every obstruction. No hillock was left, no river over which there was not a bridge; and the road was at least 32 cubits broad. At cross-roads there were posts bearing the words Refuge, Refuge, to guide the fugitive in his flight. It seems as if in Isaiah 40:3 ff the imagery were borrowed from the preparation of the ways to the cities of refuge.

Barnes preserves the rabbinic detail — bridged, 32-cubit roads, 'Refuge, Refuge' signposts — and floats the Isaiah 40:3 echo.

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Geneva Study BibleMarginal Notes1599

(b) Who killed against his will, and bore no hatred in his heart.

Geneva's marginal gloss on 'slayer' supplies the criterion the law will spell out: no will, no hatred.

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Joseph BensonCommentary on the Old and New Testaments1810s

Make a plain road to them, keep it in good repair, and distinguish it by evident marks, to prevent delays and mistakes, that the manslayer might meet with no difficulty in escaping to the nearest city.

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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.

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Hebrew — tap a word ↓

tā·ḵîn had·de·reḵ lə·ḵā wə·šil·laš·tā ’eṯ- gə·ḇūl ’ar·ṣə·ḵā ’ă·šer Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā wə·hā·yāh yan·ḥî·lə·ḵā kāl- rō·ṣê·aḥ lā·nūs šām·māh

Word by word16 · parsed

תָּכִ֣יןtā·ḵînYou are to buildH3559

√ kûwn — properly, to be erect (iVerbHifilImperfectsecond person masculine singular

tā·ḵîn (H3559) — Barnes: “At cross-roads there were posts bearing the words Refuge, Refuge, to guide the fugitive in his flight.” ⚙ He even suggests Isaiah 40:3's “prepare the way” borrows this imagery — a striking, if conjectural, link between the refuge-road and the highway for God.

הַדֶּרֶךְ֒had·de·reḵroadsH1870

√ derek — a road (as trodden)ArticleNouncommon singular

לְךָ֮lə·ḵāfor yourselves

Prepositionsecond person masculine singular

וְשִׁלַּשְׁתָּ֙wə·šil·laš·tāand divide into three regionsH8027

√ shâlash — to be (causatively, make) triplicate (by restoration, in portions, strands, days or years)Conjunctive wawVerbPielConjunctive perfectsecond person masculine singular

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

גְּב֣וּלgə·ḇūlH1366

√ gᵉbûwl — properly, a cord (as twisted), iNounmasculine singular construct

אַרְצְךָ֔’ar·ṣə·ḵāthe landH776

√ ʼerets — the earth (at large, or partitively a land)Nounfeminine singular constructsecond person masculine singular

אֲשֶׁ֥ר’ă·šerthatH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

יְהוָ֣הYah·wehthe LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular

אֱלֹהֶ֑יךָ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵāyour GodH430

√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseNounmasculine plural constructsecond person masculine singular

וְהָיָ֕הwə·hā·yāh. . .H1961

√ hâyâh — to exist, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectthird person masculine singular

יַנְחִֽילְךָ֖yan·ḥî·lə·ḵāis giving you as an inheritanceH5157

√ nâchal — to inherit (as a (figurative) mode of descent), or (generally) to occupyVerbHifilImperfectthird person masculine singularsecond person masculine singular

כָּל־kāl-so that anyH3605

√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct

רֹצֵֽחַ׃rō·ṣê·aḥmanslayerH7523

√ râtsach — properly, to dash in pieces, iVerbQalParticiplemasculine singular

rō·ṣê·aḥ (H7523) — the unit's keyword, recurring at vv. 3, 4, 6. ⚙ That the same participle covers both accidental and deliberate killing is precisely why the cities exist: to hold the manslayer safe until his intent can be judged (vv. 11–12).

לָנ֥וּסlā·nūscan fleeH5127

√ nûwç — to flit, iPreposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct

lā·nūs (H5127), nûwç — “to flee,” the verb of escape that runs through the whole law (vv. 3, 4, 5, 11). Flight to the city is the manslayer's single lawful act.

שָׁ֖מָּהšām·māhto these citiesH8033

√ shâm — there (transferring to time) thenAdverbthird person feminine singular

šām·māh (H8033) — “thither, to there.” The directional -āh ending points the fugitive's whole motion toward the named place: refuge is a destination, not a status.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

You-shall-prepare for-yourself the-road, and-you-shall-divide-into-three the-territory of-your-land that the-LORD your-God gives-you-to-inherit, so-that may-flee there every manslayer.

Where the English smooths the original

תָּכִ֣ין BSB's “build roads” renders tā·ḵîn (H3559), kûwn — “to set upright, establish, make firm, make ready.” Barnes and JFB describe the rabbinic picture of graded, bridged, signposted highways; but Cambridge notes the LXX read it “reckon” or “fix the direction.” The verb is broader than “build”: it means to make sure the way is ready.
וְשִׁלַּשְׁתָּ֙ “Divide into three regions” renders the single Piel wə·šil·laš·tā (H8027), shâlash — literally “to make triple, to divide in thirds.” One Hebrew word carries the whole geometry of equal districts, each with its own refuge.
רֹצֵֽחַ “Manslayer” translates rō·ṣê·aḥ (H7523), râtsach — the participle of the very verb of the sixth commandment, “you shall not murder” (Exod 20:13). Hebrew uses one root for both the killer who flees here and the murderer condemned in v. 11; the law, not the word, distinguishes them.

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John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63

whoso killeth his neighbour ignorantly; without intention, as the Targum of Jonathan, did not design it, but was done by him unawares: whom he hated not in time past; had never shown by words or deeds that he had any hatred of him or enmity to him three days ago

Gill draws out the evidentiary 'three days' window: no shown hatred beforehand = accidental.

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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

whoso smiteth his neighbour unawares … time past ] See Deuteronomy 4:42 , which has slayeth for smiteth .

Cambridge cross-checks the parallel ordinance at Deut 4:42, noting the verb varies (slayeth/smiteth).

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Matthew HenryConcise Commentary on the Whole Bible1706

provision is made, that the cities of refuge should be a protection, so that a man should not die for that as a crime, which was not his willing act.

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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:

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Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wə·zeh də·ḇar hā·rō·ṣê·aḥ ’ă·šer- yā·nūs šām·māh wā·ḥāy ’ă·šer yak·keh ’eṯ- rê·‘ê·hū biḇ·lî- ḏa·‘aṯ wə·hū lō- śō·nê lōw mit·tə·mōl šil·šōm

Word by word19 · parsed

וְזֶה֙wə·zehNow thisH2088

√ zeh — the masculine demonstrative pronoun, this or thatConjunctive wawPronounmasculine singular

דְּבַ֣רdə·ḇaris the situationH1697

√ dâbâr — a wordNounmasculine singular construct

də·ḇar (H1697) — the casuistic heading “this is the case of…” Gill paraphrases the Targum: “without intention… done by him unawares.” Hebrew law builds by such itemized cases rather than abstract definition.

הָרֹצֵ֔חַhā·rō·ṣê·aḥregarding the manslayerH7523

√ râtsach — properly, to dash in pieces, iArticleVerbQalParticiplemasculine singular

אֲשֶׁר־’ă·šer-whoH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

יָנ֥וּסyā·nūsfleesH5127

√ nûwç — to flit, iVerbQalImperfectthird person masculine singular

שָׁ֖מָּהšām·māh[to one of these cities]H8033

√ shâm — there (transferring to time) thenAdverbthird person feminine singular

וָחָ֑יwā·ḥāyto save his lifeH2421

√ châyâh — to live, whether literally or figurativelyConjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectthird person masculine singular

אֲשֶׁ֨ר’ă·šerH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

יַכֶּ֤הyak·kehhaving killedH5221

√ nâkâh — to strike (lightly or severely, literally or figuratively)VerbHifilImperfectthird person masculine singular

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

רֵעֵ֙הוּ֙rê·‘ê·hūhis neighborH7453

√ rêaʻ — an associate (more or less close)Nounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular

בִּבְלִי־biḇ·lî-accidentallyH1097

√ bᵉlîy — properly, failure, iPreposition-bAdverb

biḇ·lî (H1097) — “in failure / without.” ⚙ Paired with da·‘aṯ (knowledge), it makes the manslayer's ignorance the hinge of his innocence — the mirror image of v. 11's premeditation.

דַ֔עַתḏa·‘aṯ. . .H1847

√ daʻath — knowledgeNounfeminine singular

וְה֛וּאwə·hū. . .H1931

√ hûwʼ — he (she or it)Conjunctive wawPronounthird person masculine singular

לֹא־lō-withoutH3808

√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absAdverbNegative particle

שֹׂנֵ֥אśō·nêintending to harmH8130

√ sânêʼ — to hate (personally)VerbQalParticiplemasculine singular

ל֖וֹlōwhim

Prepositionthird person masculine singular

מִתְּמֹ֥לmit·tə·mōlH8543

√ tᵉmôwl — properly, ago, iPreposition-mAdverb

mit·tə·mōl (H8543) and šil·šōm (H8032) — “from yesterday, [from] the day before.” ⚙ This fixed pair (rare enough to fingerprint a verse) recurs across the Pentateuch as the idiom for “previously, in time past”; here it sets the evidentiary window for prior malice (cf. Exod 21:29).

שִׁלְשֹֽׁם׃šil·šōmH8032

√ shilshôwm — trebly, iAdverb

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-this [is] the-matter of-the-manslayer who flees there, and-lives: [he] who strikes his-neighbor without-knowledge, and-he not-hating him from-yesterday [and]-the-day-before.

Where the English smooths the original

דְּבַ֣ר BSB's “this is the situation regarding” renders də·ḇar (H1697), dâbâr — literally “the word / matter / case of the manslayer.” The legal formula “this is the word of…” introduces a defined case; Cambridge ties it to the identical heading at Deut 15:2.
בִּבְלִי־דַ֔עַת “Accidentally” compresses biḇ·lî-ḏa·‘aṯ (H1097 + H1847) — literally “in lack of knowledge.” The exonerating element is precise: not absence of harm but absence of intent, of foreknowledge of the deed.
שֹׂנֵ֥א “Intending to harm” renders śō·nê (H8130), sânêʼ — “to hate.” The Hebrew test is not generic intent but specifically prior hatred: the killer is cleared if he “hated him not from yesterday [and] the day before” — an idiom for established enmity.

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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

forest ] As in most instances in which forest is used by EVV., the term misleads. Heb. ya‘ar was one antithesis to fertile or cultivated land ( Isaiah 29:7 ) and, as evident from the conditions of Palestine today as well as those reflected in the O.T. ( HGHL , 80 f., Jerus. i. 78, 305), must usually have meant copse or jungle or, at the most, woodland .

Cambridge corrects the rendering 'forest': the Hebrew yaʻar is scrub/woodland, an open public space.

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John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63

and the head slippeth from the halve; the head of the axe from the handle of it: or the iron from the wood (u); the iron part of the axe, which is properly the head, from the wooden part, which is laid hold on by the hand; and this not being well fastened, slips and falls off as the blow is fetching

Gill reconstructs the mechanism precisely: an iron head poorly fastened to its wooden helve.

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Albert BarnesNotes on the Bible1834

With the axe - literally, "with the iron." Note the employment of iron for tools, and compare Deuteronomy 3:11 note.

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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.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wa·’ă·šer yā·ḇō ḇay·ya·‘ar ’eṯ- rê·‘ê·hū laḥ·ṭōḇ ‘ê·ṣîm yā·ḏōw wə·nid·də·ḥāh ḇag·gar·zen liḵ·rōṯ hā·‘êṣ wə·nā·šal hab·bar·zel min- hā·‘êṣ ū·mā·ṣā ’eṯ- wā·mêṯ rê·‘ê·hū hū yā·nūs ’el- ’a·ḥaṯ hā·’êl·leh he·‘ā·rîm- wā·ḥāy

Word by word27 · parsed

וַאֲשֶׁר֩wa·’ă·šerIfH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatConjunctive wawPronounrelative

יָבֹ֨אyā·ḇōhe goesH935

√ bôwʼ — to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)VerbQalImperfectthird person masculine singular

בַיַּעַר֮ḇay·ya·‘arinto the forestH3293

√ yaʻar — a copse of bushesPreposition-b, ArticleNounmasculine singular

ḇay·ya·‘ar (H3293) — Gill cites the Mishnah (Maccoth): “a wood is a public place for him that hurts and him that is hurt to enter there.” The setting matters legally — a private courtyard would make the death suspicious; open woodland makes it plausibly accidental.

אֶת־’eṯ-withH854

√ ʼêth — properly, nearness (used only as a preposition or an adverb), nearPreposition

רֵעֵ֥הוּrê·‘ê·hūhis neighborH7453

√ rêaʻ — an associate (more or less close)Nounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular

לַחְטֹ֣בlaḥ·ṭōḇto cutH2404

√ châṭab — to chop or carve woodPreposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct

עֵצִים֒‘ê·ṣîmtimberH6086

√ ʻêts — a tree (from its firmness)Nounmasculine plural

יָד֤וֹyā·ḏōwvvvH3027

√ yâd — a hand (the open one (indicating power, means, direction, etcNounfeminine singular constructthird person masculine singular

וְנִדְּחָ֨הwə·nid·də·ḥāhand swingsH5080

√ nâdach — to push offConjunctive wawVerbNifalConjunctive perfectthird person feminine singular

בַגַּרְזֶן֙ḇag·gar·zenhis axeH1631

√ garzen — an axePreposition-b, ArticleNounmasculine singular

ḇag·gar·zen (H1631), garzen — “axe.” ⚙ A rare noun (only 4 verses); the same word arms Isaiah's boasting axe (Isa 10:15) and is barred from Solomon's temple stones (1 Kgs 6:7) — see threads.

לִכְרֹ֣תliḵ·rōṯto chop downH3772

√ kârath — to cut (off, down or asunder)Preposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct

הָעֵ֔ץhā·‘êṣa treeH6086

√ ʻêts — a tree (from its firmness)ArticleNounmasculine singular

וְנָשַׁ֤לwə·nā·šalbut the blade flies offH5394

√ nâshal — to pluck off, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectthird person masculine singular

הַבַּרְזֶל֙hab·bar·zel. . .H1270

√ barzel — iron (as cutting)ArticleNounmasculine singular

hab·bar·zel (H1270) — “the iron.” ⚙ Barnes (notes on vv. 5–7) flags the casual mention of an iron tool as itself a datable cultural marker, cf. Deut 3:11.

מִן־min-. . .H4480

√ min — properly, a part ofPreposition

הָעֵ֔ץhā·‘êṣthe handleH6086

√ ʻêts — a tree (from its firmness)ArticleNounmasculine singular

וּמָצָ֥אū·mā·ṣāand strikesH4672

√ mâtsâʼ — properly, to come forth to, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectthird person masculine singular

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

וָמֵ֑תwā·mêṯand killsH4191

√ mûwth — to die (literally or figuratively)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectthird person masculine singular

רֵעֵ֖הוּrê·‘ê·hūhis neighborH7453

√ rêaʻ — an associate (more or less close)Nounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular

ה֗וּאhūheH1931

√ hûwʼ — he (she or it)Pronounthird person masculine singular

יָנ֛וּסyā·nūsmay fleeH5127

√ nûwç — to flit, iVerbQalImperfectthird person masculine singular

אֶל־’el-toH413

√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPreposition

אַחַ֥ת’a·ḥaṯoneH259

√ ʼechâd — properly, united, iNumberfeminine singular construct

הָאֵ֖לֶּהhā·’êl·lehof theseH428

√ ʼêl-leh — these or thoseArticlePronouncommon plural

הֶעָרִים־he·‘ā·rîm-citiesH5892

√ ʻîyr — a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the widest sense (even of a mere encampment or post)ArticleNounfeminine plural

וָחָֽי׃wā·ḥāyto save his lifeH2421

√ châyâh — to live, whether literally or figurativelyConjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectthird person masculine singular

wā·ḥāy (H2421), châyâh — “and he shall live.” The same word that closes v. 4 closes v. 5: the entire institution exists to turn a death into a life preserved.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-who goes into-the-forest with his-neighbor to-cut wood, and-his-hand is-driven with-the-axe to-cut-down the-tree, and-slips the-iron from the-wood, and-it-finds his-neighbor, and-he-dies — he may-flee to one of these cities, and-live.

Where the English smooths the original

בַיַּעַר֮ BSB's “forest” renders ḇay·ya·‘ar (H3293), yaʻar. Cambridge warns the word “misleads” as “forest”: in Palestine it means “copse or jungle or, at the most, woodland” — an open, public place where, the rabbis stressed, both men had the right to be.
וְנָשַׁ֤ל “The blade flies off” renders wə·nā·šal (H5394), nâshal — “to slip off, drop off.” Cambridge notes the LXX read naphal (“falleth off”) instead. This is a rare verb (only 7 verses), and it is the precise mechanism of the accident: nothing thrown, only an unsecured head.
הַבַּרְזֶל֙ BSB renders the object as “the blade” / the handle as “the handle,” but the Hebrew says hab·bar·zel (H1270) — “the iron” — slipping min hā·‘êṣ, “from the wood.” Barnes: “literally, ‘with the iron.’” The verse is a small window onto Iron-Age tools.

The Voices✦ 3 public domain

Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871

the meaning is that if the kinsman of a person inadvertently killed should, under the impulse of sudden excitement and without inquiring into the circumstances, inflict summary vengeance on the homicide, however guiltless, the law tolerated such an act; it was to pass with impunity. But to prevent such precipitate measures, the cities of refuge were established for the reception of the homicide

JFB frames the cities as a brake on lawful-but-blind vengeance: the gōʼēl's act 'passed with impunity,' so the fugitive needed a sanctuary.

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Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

The avenger of the blood. —Literally, the redeemer of the blood. The Hebrew, gooël stands for all the three words, “redeemer,” “avenger,” “kinsman.”

Ellicott's note (under 19:1, treating v. 6) recovers the single Hebrew word gōʼēl behind 'avenger' — redeemer, avenger, kinsman in one.

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Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685

This verse is to be joined with Deu 19:3 , as is evident, the 4th and 5th verses coming in as a parenthesis, which is usual in Scripture and other authors.

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Otherwise, the avenger of blood might pursue the manslayer in a rage, overtake him if the distance is great, and strike him dead though he did not deserve to die, since he did not intend any harm.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

pen- gō·’êl had·dām yir·dōp̄ hā·rō·ṣê·aḥ ’a·ḥă·rê lə·ḇā·ḇōw kî- yê·ḥam wə·hiś·śî·ḡōw kî- had·de·reḵ yir·beh wə·hik·kā·hū nā·p̄eš wə·lōw ’ên miš·paṭ- mā·weṯ kî hū lōw lō śō·nê mit·tə·mō·wl šil·šō·wm

Word by word26 · parsed

פֶּן־pen-OtherwiseH6435

√ pên — properly, removalConjunction

pen- (H6435) — “lest.” JFB and Poole both note this verse continues v. 3 (vv. 4–5 being a parenthesis): the roads must be short and clear lest hot pursuit overtake the innocent fugitive.

גֹּאֵ֨לgō·’êlthe avengerH1350

√ gâʼal — to be the next of kin (and as such to buy back a relative's property, marry his widow, etcVerbQalParticiplemasculine singular construct

gō·’êl (H1350) — ⚙ The blood-avenger is no rogue; JFB calls his role “the customary law of that age.” The cities of refuge do not abolish the institution but interpose a lawful pause between the deed and the vengeance.

הַדָּ֜םhad·dāmof bloodH1818

√ dâm — blood (as that which when shed causes death) of man or an animalArticleNounmasculine singular

יִרְדֹּף֩yir·dōp̄might pursueH7291

√ râdaph — to run after (usually with hostile intentVerbQalImperfectthird person masculine singular

הָרֹצֵ֗חַhā·rō·ṣê·aḥthe manslayerH7523

√ râtsach — properly, to dash in pieces, iArticleVerbQalParticiplemasculine singular

אַחֲרֵ֣י’a·ḥă·rêH310

√ ʼachar — properly, the hind partPreposition

לְבָבוֹ֒lə·ḇā·ḇōwin a rageH3824

√ lêbâb — the heart (as the most interior organ)Nounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular

כִּי־kî-H3588

√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction

יֵחַם֮yê·ḥamH2552

√ châmam — to be hot (literally or figuratively)VerbQalImperfectthird person masculine singular

וְהִשִּׂיג֛וֹwə·hiś·śî·ḡōwovertake himH5381

√ nâsag — to reach (literally or figuratively)Conjunctive wawVerbHifilConjunctive perfectthird person masculine singularthird person masculine singular

כִּֽי־kî-ifH3588

√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction

הַדֶּ֖רֶךְhad·de·reḵthe distanceH1870

√ derek — a road (as trodden)ArticleNouncommon singular

יִרְבֶּ֥הyir·behis greatH7235

√ râbâh — to increase (in whatever respect)VerbQalImperfectthird person masculine singular

וְהִכָּ֣הוּwə·hik·kā·hūand strike himH5221

√ nâkâh — to strike (lightly or severely, literally or figuratively)Conjunctive wawVerbHifilConjunctive perfectthird person masculine singularthird person masculine singular

נָ֑פֶשׁnā·p̄ešdeadH5315

√ nephesh — properly, a breathing creature, iNounfeminine singular

וְלוֹ֙wə·lōwthough he

Conjunctive wawPrepositionthird person masculine singular

אֵ֣ין’êndid notH369

√ ʼayin — a non-entityAdverb

מִשְׁפַּט־miš·paṭ-deserveH4941

√ mishpâṭ — properly, a verdict (favorable or unfavorable) pronounced judicially, especially a sentence or formal decree (human or (participant's) divine law, individual or collective), including the act, the place, the suit, the crime, and the penaltyNounmasculine singular construct

miš·paṭ- (H4941), mishpâṭ — “verdict, judgment, legal claim.” The clause “no sentence of death” is a forensic judgment: by right, this killer is owed no death-penalty. The avenger's hot blood would override a verdict already rendered by the facts.

מָ֔וֶתmā·weṯto dieH4194

√ mâveth — death (natural or violent)Nounmasculine singular

כִּ֠יkîsinceH3588

√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction

ה֛וּאhūheH1931

√ hûwʼ — he (she or it)Pronounthird person masculine singular

ל֖וֹlōw

Prepositionthird person masculine singular

לֹ֣אlōdid notH3808

√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absAdverbNegative particle

שֹׂנֵ֥אśō·nêintend any harmH8130

√ sânêʼ — to hate (personally)VerbQalParticiplemasculine singular

מִתְּמ֥וֹלmit·tə·mō·wl. . .H8543

√ tᵉmôwl — properly, ago, iPreposition-mAdverb

שִׁלְשֽׁוֹם׃šil·šō·wm. . .H8032

√ shilshôwm — trebly, iAdverb

Literal — word-for-word from the original

lest the-avenger of-the-blood pursue the-manslayer when-is-hot his-heart, and-overtake-him because is-great the-road, and-strike-him-[in-the]-soul — though he [has] no sentence of-death, since he hated-him-not from-yesterday [and]-the-day-before.

Where the English smooths the original

גֹּאֵ֨ל BSB's “the avenger of blood” renders gō·’êl had·dām (H1350), gâʼal — “to be next of kin, to redeem.” Ellicott insists: “Literally, the redeemer of the blood,” for the one Hebrew word gōʼēl means redeemer, avenger, and kinsman at once. The blood-avenger is a family redeemer, not a hired executioner.
יֵחַם֮ “In a rage” renders yê·ḥam (H2552, châmam, “to be hot”) modifying lə·ḇā·ḇōw (H3824, heart) — literally “while his heart is hot.” The idiom names a passion that, Cambridge says, “cannot discriminate between accidental and wilful murder.”
נָ֑פֶשׁ “Dead” compresses wə·hik·kā·hū nā·p̄eš — literally “and strike him [as to the] soul / life” (H5315, nephesh). Cambridge: “Heb. to, or as to, the life.” The blow is mortal because aimed at the nephesh itself.

This is why I am commanding you to set apart for yourselves three cities.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

‘al- kên ’ā·nō·ḵî mə·ṣaw·wə·ḵā lê·mōr taḇ·dîl lāḵ šā·lōš ‘ā·rîm

Word by word9 · parsed

עַל־‘al-This is whyH5921

√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPreposition

‘al-kên (H5921 + H3651) — “upon thus / therefore.” The connective gathers up the whole rationale of vv. 4–6 (the innocent fugitive, the hot avenger) into a single conclusion: therefore, set apart the cities.

כֵּ֛ןkên. . .H3651

√ kên — properly, set uprightAdverb

אָנֹכִ֥י’ā·nō·ḵîIH595

√ ʼânôkîy — IPronounfirst person common singular

’ā·nō·ḵî (H595) — Gill: this was to be done “immediately, as soon as they were settled in the land of Canaan.” The emphatic first-person stresses Moses' authority as the conduit of the command.

מְצַוְּךָ֖mə·ṣaw·wə·ḵāam commandingH6680

√ tsâvâh — (intensively) to constitute, enjoinVerbPielParticiplemasculine singular constructsecond person masculine singular

לֵאמֹ֑רlê·mōr. . .H559

√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Preposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct

תַּבְדִּ֥ילtaḇ·dîlyou to set apartH914

√ bâdal — to divide (in variation senses literally or figuratively, separate, distinguish, differ, select, etcVerbHifilImperfectsecond person masculine singular

taḇ·dîl (H914) — the verbatim repeat of v. 2 closes the inclusio: the law of the three western cities is stated, argued, and restated.

לָֽךְ׃סlāḵfor yourselves

Prepositionsecond person masculine singular

שָׁלֹ֥שׁšā·lōšthreeH7969

√ shâlôwsh — threeNumberfeminine singular

עָרִ֖ים‘ā·rîmcitiesH5892

√ ʻîyr — a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the widest sense (even of a mere encampment or post)Nounfeminine plural

Literal — word-for-word from the original

Upon thus I [am]-commanding you, saying: three cities you-shall-set-apart for-yourself.

Where the English smooths the original

אָנֹכִ֥י BSB's “I am commanding” uses the emphatic ’ā·nō·ḵî (H595) — the long, weighty “I,” not the shorter ʼănî. Moses speaks with the full personal force of the lawgiver, the same pronoun that opens the Decalogue's “I am the LORD.”
מְצַוְּךָ֖ “Commanding” renders mə·ṣaw·wə·ḵā (H6680), tsâvâh — the Piel “to charge, enjoin, constitute.” The participle makes it present and binding: “I am [now] charging you,” not a past directive recalled.
תַּבְדִּ֥יל “Set apart” repeats taḇ·dîl (H914) from v. 2 verbatim — the same consecration-verb. The command is resumed word-for-word, framing vv. 4–6 as the reasoned ground (“upon thus…”) for the repeated charge.

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Joseph BensonCommentary on the Old and New Testaments1810s

This shows that the promise of enlarging their border was conditional, and the condition not being performed the promise was never accomplished, so that there was no need for three more cities of refuge. This the Jewish writers themselves own.

Benson states the consensus reading: the enlargement was conditional, the condition unmet, so the extra cities were never needed.

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Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871

Three additional sanctuaries were to be established in the event of their territory extending over the country from Hermon and Gilead to the Euphrates (see Ge 15:18; Ex 23:31). But it was obscurely hinted that this last provision would never be carried into effect, as the Israelites would not fulfil the conditions

JFB reads the conditional as an 'obscure hint' that Israel would fall short of the obedience required.

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Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685

Enlarge thy coast, as far as Euphrates. See Genesis 15:18 Exodus 23:31 Deu 1:7 .

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And if the LORD your God enlarges your territory, as He swore to your fathers, and gives you all the land He promised them,

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wə·’im- Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā ’eṯ- yar·ḥîḇ gə·ḇul·ḵā ka·’ă·šer niš·ba‘ la·’ă·ḇō·ṯe·ḵā wə·nā·ṯan lə·ḵā ’eṯ- kāl- hā·’ā·reṣ ’ă·šer dib·ber lā·ṯêṯ la·’ă·ḇō·ṯe·ḵā

Word by word18 · parsed

וְאִם־wə·’im-And ifH518

√ ʼim — used very widely as demonstrative, lo!Conjunction

wə·’im- (H518) — “and if.” ⚙ The whole sub-law of vv. 8–10 is conditional, and the condition (v. 9: faithful obedience and love of God) was, the commentators agree, never met. This is law for a future that did not arrive — see the grand commentary.

יְהוָ֤הYah·wehthe LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular

אֱלֹהֶ֙יךָ֙’ĕ·lō·he·ḵāyour GodH430

√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseNounmasculine plural constructsecond person masculine singular

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

יַרְחִ֞יבyar·ḥîḇenlargesH7337

√ râchab — to broaden (intransitive or transitive, literal or figurative)VerbHifilImperfectthird person masculine singular

yar·ḥîḇ (H7337) — Benson: “the promise of enlarging their border was conditional, and the condition not being performed the promise was never accomplished.” The enlargement is the trigger for three more refuge-cities.

גְּבֻ֣לְךָ֔gə·ḇul·ḵāyour territoryH1366

√ gᵉbûwl — properly, a cord (as twisted), iNounmasculine singular constructsecond person masculine singular

כַּאֲשֶׁ֥רka·’ă·šerasH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPreposition-kPronounrelative

נִשְׁבַּ֖עniš·ba‘He sworeH7650

√ shâbaʻ — to seven oneself, iVerbNifalPerfectthird person masculine singular

לַאֲבֹתֶ֑יךָla·’ă·ḇō·ṯe·ḵāto your fathersH1

√ ʼâb — father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote applicationPreposition-lNounmasculine plural constructsecond person masculine singular

la·’ă·ḇō·ṯe·ḵā (H1), ʼâb — “to your fathers.” The land is framed as patriarchal inheritance: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob (Gen 15:18–19). Mercy-cities and covenant-land are bound together.

וְנָ֤תַןwə·nā·ṯanand givesH5414

√ nâthan — to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make, etcConjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectthird person masculine singular

לְךָ֙lə·ḵāyou

Prepositionsecond person masculine singular

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

כָּל־kāl-allH3605

√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct

הָאָ֔רֶץhā·’ā·reṣthe landH776

√ ʼerets — the earth (at large, or partitively a land)ArticleNounfeminine singular

אֲשֶׁ֥ר’ă·šerH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

דִּבֶּ֖רdib·berHe promisedH1696

√ dâbar — perhaps properly, to arrangeVerbPielPerfectthird person masculine singular

לָתֵ֥תlā·ṯêṯ. . .H5414

√ nâthan — to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make, etcPreposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct

לַאֲבֹתֶֽיךָ׃la·’ă·ḇō·ṯe·ḵāthemH1

√ ʼâb — father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote applicationPreposition-lNounmasculine plural constructsecond person masculine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-if the-LORD your-God shall-enlarge your-territory as he-swore to-your-fathers, and-gives to-you all the-land that he-promised to-give to-your-fathers,

Where the English smooths the original

יַרְחִ֞יב BSB's “enlarges” renders yar·ḥîḇ (H7337), râchab — “to broaden, make wide.” Poole and Gill fix the horizon: “as far as Euphrates” (Gen 15:18). The verb opens onto the full patriarchal land-grant, from Nile to River.
נִשְׁבַּ֖ע “As He swore” renders niš·ba‘ (H7650), shâbaʻ — etymologically “to seven oneself,” i.e. to bind oneself by an oath (sevening being the act of swearing). The land's enlargement rests on a sworn covenant to the patriarchs, not a bare wish.
דִּבֶּ֖ר “Promised” renders dib·ber (H1696), dâbar — simply “spoke.” Hebrew has no separate word for promise here; God's speaking to the fathers is the promise. The reliability is in the speaker, not a special promissory verb.

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John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63

to love the Lord thy God; which is the source and spring of genuine obedience to the commands of God: and to walk ever in his ways; noting constancy and perseverance in them; now all this is mentioned as the condition of the enlargement of their coast

Gill names love of God as the spring of obedience and perseverance as the mark of the condition.

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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

then shalt thou add three cities more ] is the apodosis to 8 a ; all between consists of such formulas as later scribes were fond of inserting, and the evidence of the versions goes to show that they are not original.

Cambridge's text-critical view: the love/walk clauses may be later formulaic expansions; the apodosis is simply 'add three more cities.'

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

The circumstances supposed by Moses never existed, since the Israelites did not fulfil the conditions laid down in Deuteronomy 19:9 , viz., that they should keep the law faithfully, and love the Lord their God

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and if you carefully keep all these commandments I am giving you today, loving the LORD your God and walking in His ways at all times, then you are to add three more cities to these three.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

kî- ṯiš·mōr ’eṯ- la·‘ă·śō·ṯāh ’ă·šer kāl- haz·zōṯ ham·miṣ·wāh ’ā·nō·ḵî mə·ṣaw·wə·ḵā hay·yō·wm lə·’a·hă·ḇāh ’eṯ- Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā wə·lā·le·ḵeṯ biḏ·rā·ḵāw kāl- hay·yā·mîm wə·yā·sap̄·tā lə·ḵā šā·lōš ‘ō·wḏ ‘ā·rîm ‘al hā·’êl·leh haš·šā·lōš

Word by word27 · parsed

כִּֽי־kî-and ifH3588

√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction

תִשְׁמֹר֩ṯiš·mōryou carefully keepH8104

√ shâmar — properly, to hedge about (as with thorns), iVerbQalImperfectsecond person masculine singular

ṯiš·mōr (H8104) — Gill: obedience is “the source and spring of genuine obedience” to the land-promise; perseverance (“all the days”) is built into the condition.

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

לַעֲשֹׂתָ֗הּla·‘ă·śō·ṯāhH6213

√ ʻâsâh — to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest applicationPreposition-lVerbQalInfinitive constructthird person feminine singular

אֲשֶׁ֨ר’ă·šerH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

כָּל־kāl-allH3605

√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct

הַזֹּ֜אתhaz·zōṯtheseH2063

√ zôʼth — this (often used adverb)ArticlePronounfeminine singular

הַמִּצְוָ֨הham·miṣ·wāhcommandmentsH4687

√ mitsvâh — a command, whether human or divine (collectively, the Law)ArticleNounfeminine singular

אָנֹכִ֣י’ā·nō·ḵîIH595

√ ʼânôkîy — IPronounfirst person common singular

מְצַוְּךָ֮mə·ṣaw·wə·ḵāam giving youH6680

√ tsâvâh — (intensively) to constitute, enjoinVerbPielParticiplemasculine singular constructsecond person masculine singular

הַיּוֹם֒hay·yō·wmtodayH3117

√ yôwm — a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb)ArticleNounmasculine singular

לְאַהֲבָ֞הlə·’a·hă·ḇāhlovingH157

√ ʼâhab — to have affection for (sexually or otherwise)Preposition-lVerbQalInfinitive constructthird person feminine singular

lə·’a·hă·ḇāh (H157) — ⚙ The triad keep / love / walk is the covenant's whole posture in miniature (cf. Deut 6:5; 10:12). The extra cities of refuge hang on whether Israel will love God — mercy multiplied is contingent on devotion.

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

יְהוָ֧הYah·wehthe LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular

אֱלֹהֶ֛יךָ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵāyour GodH430

√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseNounmasculine plural constructsecond person masculine singular

וְלָלֶ֥כֶתwə·lā·le·ḵeṯand walkingH1980

√ hâlak — to walk (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)Conjunctive waw, Preposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct

בִּדְרָכָ֖יוbiḏ·rā·ḵāwin His waysH1870

√ derek — a road (as trodden)Preposition-bNouncommon plural constructthird person masculine singular

biḏ·rā·ḵāw (H1870), derek — “in His ways.” ⚙ The same noun as the refuge-road (v. 3). The chapter quietly rhymes the physical road to safety with the moral road of obedience.

כָּל־kāl-at all timesH3605

√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct

הַיָּמִ֑יםhay·yā·mîm. . .H3117

וְיָסַפְתָּ֨wə·yā·sap̄·tāthen you are to addH3254

√ yâçaph — to add or augment (often adverbial, to continue to do a thing)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectsecond person masculine singular

לְךָ֥lə·ḵā

Prepositionsecond person masculine singular

שָׁלֹ֣שׁšā·lōšthreeH7969

√ shâlôwsh — threeNumberfeminine singular

עוֹד֙‘ō·wḏmoreH5750

√ ʻôwd — properly, iteration or continuanceAdverb

‘ō·wḏ (H5750) — “more, again.” Three cities added to the existing three would make nine total; the commentators (Gill, Keil) agree this nine was never reached in Israel's history.

עָרִ֔ים‘ā·rîmcitiesH5892

√ ʻîyr — a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the widest sense (even of a mere encampment or post)Nounfeminine plural

עַ֖ל‘altoH5921

√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPreposition

הָאֵֽלֶּה׃hā·’êl·lehtheseH428

√ ʼêl-leh — these or thoseArticlePronouncommon plural

הַשָּׁלֹ֥שׁhaš·šā·lōšthreeH7969

√ shâlôwsh — threeArticleNumberfeminine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

for you-shall-keep all this commandment to-do-it that I [am]-commanding-you today, to-love the-LORD your-God and-to-walk in-his-ways all the-days — then-you-shall-add for-yourself three more cities upon these three.

Where the English smooths the original

תִשְׁמֹר֩ BSB's “carefully keep” renders ṯiš·mōr (H8104), shâmar — “to hedge about, guard, watch.” The verb pictures keeping the law as a protective fence, the same image that names the refuge-city as a guarded place (H5892, ʻîyr, a place of watching).
לְאַהֲבָ֞ה “Loving” renders lə·’a·hă·ḇāh (H157), ʼâhab. This is the Deuteronomic heart-command (cf. Deut 6:5): the condition for the enlarged land is not mere conquest but love of Yahweh — affection, not only obedience.
וְלָלֶ֥כֶת “Walking” renders wə·lā·le·ḵeṯ (H1980), hâlak — “to walk,” with biḏ·rā·ḵāw (in His ways, H1870 — the same derek as the refuge-roads of v. 3). The fugitive walks a prepared road to the city; the nation must walk God's road every day.

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

Innocent blood would be shed if the unintentional manslayer was not protected against the avenger of blood, by the erection of cities of refuge in every part of the land. If Israel neglected this duty, it would bring blood-guiltiness upon itself ("and so blood be upon thee"), because it had not done what was requisite to prevent the shedding of innocent blood.

K&D make the nation, not just the avenger, liable: failing to provide refuge is itself bloodguilt.

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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

and so blood be upon thee ] Upon the nation as a whole, on the principle of ethical solidarity so often illustrated in D.

Cambridge names the operative principle: ethical solidarity — corporate guilt for shed innocent blood.

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John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63

it seems as if the guilt would rather affect the whole land, for not having a proper provision of "asylums" for such persons, than the avenger of blood.

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Thus innocent blood will not be shed in the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, so that you will not be guilty of bloodshed.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

nā·qî dām wə·lō yiš·šā·p̄êḵ bə·qe·reḇ ’ar·ṣə·ḵā ’ă·šer Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā nō·ṯên lə·ḵā na·ḥă·lāh wə·hā·yāh ‘ā·le·ḵā dā·mîm

Word by word15 · parsed

נָקִ֔יnā·qîThus innocentH5355

√ nâqîy — innocentAdjectivemasculine singular

nā·qî (H5355) — ⚙ “innocent.” Paired with dām (blood), it names the very thing the cities exist to prevent: the killing of a guiltless man by a hot avenger. The phrase “innocent blood” becomes a fixed legal category in Deuteronomy (cf. 21:8; 27:25).

דָּ֣םdāmbloodH1818

√ dâm — blood (as that which when shed causes death) of man or an animalNounmasculine singular

וְלֹ֤אwə·lōwill notH3808

√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absConjunctive wawAdverbNegative particle

יִשָּׁפֵךְ֙yiš·šā·p̄êḵbe shedH8210

√ shâphak — to spill forth (blood, a libation, liquid metalVerbNifalImperfectthird person masculine singular

yiš·šā·p̄êḵ (H8210) — Keil: “If Israel neglected this duty, it would bring blood-guiltiness upon itself.” The land itself is held to be defiled by unavenged or wrongly-shed blood (cf. Num 35:33).

בְּקֶ֣רֶבbə·qe·reḇinH7130

√ qereb — properly, the nearest part, iPreposition-bNounmasculine singular construct

אַרְצְךָ֔’ar·ṣə·ḵāthe landH776

√ ʼerets — the earth (at large, or partitively a land)Nounfeminine singular constructsecond person masculine singular

אֲשֶׁר֙’ă·šerthatH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

יְהוָ֣הYah·wehthe LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular

אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵāyour GodH430

√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseNounmasculine plural constructsecond person masculine singular

נֹתֵ֥ןnō·ṯênis givingH5414

√ nâthan — to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make, etcVerbQalParticiplemasculine singular

לְךָ֖lə·ḵāyou

Prepositionsecond person masculine singular

נַחֲלָ֑הna·ḥă·lāh[as] an inheritanceH5159

√ nachălâh — properly, something inherited, iNounfeminine singular

וְהָיָ֥הwə·hā·yāhso that you will not beH1961

√ hâyâh — to exist, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectthird person masculine singular

עָלֶ֖יךָ‘ā·le·ḵā. . .H5921

√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPrepositionsecond person masculine singular

דָּמִֽים׃סdā·mîmguilty of bloodshedH1818

√ dâm — blood (as that which when shed causes death) of man or an animalNounmasculine plural

dā·mîm (H1818, plural) — ⚙ The plural “bloods” is the technical term for incurred bloodguilt. Cambridge: it falls “upon the nation as a whole, on the principle of ethical solidarity.” Refuge is a corporate, not merely private, obligation.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

so-that innocent blood shall-not be-shed in-the-midst-of your-land that the-LORD your-God [is]-giving to-you [as]-an-inheritance, and-[so]-be upon-you bloods.

Where the English smooths the original

נָקִ֔י BSB's “innocent” renders nā·qî (H5355) — “clean, free, guiltless.” The fugitive's blood is nāqî: spilling it would be a positive defilement of the land, not merely a misfortune.
יִשָּׁפֵךְ֙ “Be shed” renders yiš·šā·p̄êḵ (H8210), shâphak — “to pour out, spill forth.” The Niphal makes it passive: blood gets poured out upon the ground. Genesis 9:6 uses the same root for the murder that demands reckoning.
דָּמִֽים BSB's “guilty of bloodshed” renders the plural dā·mîm (H1818) — literally “bloods.” The Hebrew idiom “bloods be upon you” means bloodguilt; Cambridge ties it to “ethical solidarity” — the guilt falls on the whole nation, not one man.

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Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

Rashi’s comment upon this is in the spirit of St. John: “By way of hatred he comes to lying in wait: and hence it has been said, when a man has transgressed a light commandment, that he will end by transgressing a greater. Therefore when he has broken the commandment, Thou shalt not hate, he will end by coming to bloodshed.” What is this but “He that hateth his brother is a murderer”?

Ellicott (note under 19:1, on v. 11) joins Rashi's hatred-to-murder chain with 1 John 3:15.

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The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s

These cities, however, were not to be places of refuge for murderers, for those who from hatred and with wicked intent had slain others; if such fled to one of these cities, they were not to be suffered to remain there

The Pulpit Commentary draws the bright line: sanctuary protects the unintending slayer, never the malicious murderer.

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John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63

Has conceived enmity in his heart against him, bears him a mortal hatred, and has formed a scheme in his mind to take away his life: and lie in wait for him knowing and expecting he will come by in such a way at such a time

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If, however, a man hates his neighbor and lies in wait, attacks him and kills him, and then flees to one of these cities,

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wə·ḵî- yih·yeh ’îš śō·nê lə·rê·‘ê·hū wə·’ā·raḇ lōw wə·qām ‘ā·lāw wə·hik·kā·hū ne·p̄eš wā·mêṯ wə·nās ’el- ’a·ḥaṯ hā·’êl he·‘ā·rîm

Word by word17 · parsed

וְכִֽי־wə·ḵî-If, howeverH3588

√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction

wə·ḵî- (H3588) — “but if.” The adversative case: vv. 11–13 are the dark mirror of vv. 4–6. Same flight, same city, opposite verdict — because of śō·nê, hatred.

יִהְיֶ֥הyih·yeh. . .H1961

√ hâyâh — to exist, iVerbQalImperfectthird person masculine singular

אִישׁ֙’îša manH376

√ ʼîysh — a man as an individual or a male personNounmasculine singular

שֹׂנֵ֣אśō·nêhatesH8130

√ sânêʼ — to hate (personally)VerbQalParticiplemasculine singular

śō·nê (H8130) — ⚙ Ellicott records Rashi's chain: hatred breeds lying-in-wait breeds bloodshed — “What is this but ‘He that hateth his brother is a murderer’?” (1 John 3:15). The participle of hatred is the root of the whole crime.

לְרֵעֵ֔הוּlə·rê·‘ê·hūhis neighborH7453

√ rêaʻ — an associate (more or less close)Preposition-lNounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular

וְאָ֤רַבwə·’ā·raḇand lies in waitH693

√ ʼârab — to lurkConjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectthird person masculine singular

wə·’ā·raḇ (H693) — Cambridge cross-refers Exod 21:14: the wilful murderer “must not escape through the provision of protection for the innocent slayer.” Refuge is for the unintending, never the ambusher.

לוֹ֙lōw

Prepositionthird person masculine singular

וְקָ֣םwə·qāmattacksH6965

√ qûwm — to rise (in various applications, literal, figurative, intensive and causative)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectthird person masculine singular

עָלָ֔יו‘ā·lāwhimH5921

√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPrepositionthird person masculine singular

וְהִכָּ֥הוּwə·hik·kā·hūand kills himH5221

√ nâkâh — to strike (lightly or severely, literally or figuratively)Conjunctive wawVerbHifilConjunctive perfectthird person masculine singularthird person masculine singular

נֶ֖פֶשׁne·p̄eš. . .H5315

√ nephesh — properly, a breathing creature, iNounfeminine singular

וָמֵ֑תwā·mêṯ. . .H4191

√ mûwth — to die (literally or figuratively)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectthird person masculine singular

וְנָ֕סwə·nāsand then fleesH5127

√ nûwç — to flit, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectthird person masculine singular

אֶל־’el-toH413

√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPreposition

אַחַ֖ת’a·ḥaṯoneH259

√ ʼechâd — properly, united, iNumberfeminine singular construct

הָאֵֽל׃hā·’êlof theseH411

√ ʼêl — these or thoseArticlePronouncommon plural

הֶעָרִ֥יםhe·‘ā·rîmcitiesH5892

√ ʻîyr — a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the widest sense (even of a mere encampment or post)ArticleNounfeminine plural

Literal — word-for-word from the original

But-if there-is a-man hating his-neighbor, and-he-lies-in-wait for-him, and-rises against-him, and-strikes-him [in-the]-soul, and-he-dies — and-he-flees to one of these cities,

Where the English smooths the original

שֹׂנֵ֣א BSB's “hates” renders śō·nê (H8130), sânêʼ — the exact participle that was denied of the manslayer in vv. 4 and 6 (“hated him not”). The single verb is the whole legal pivot: presence of hatred turns refuge into a trap.
וְאָ֤רַב “Lies in wait” renders wə·’ā·raḇ (H693), ʼârab — “to lurk, ambush.” Premeditation is built into the verb: this is not a slipped axe-head but a planned ambush, the marker of murder (cf. Exod 21:14).
נֶ֖פֶשׁ “Kills him” compresses wə·hik·kā·hū ne·p̄eš — “and strikes him [as to the] soul” (H5315). The same nephesh-blow as v. 6, but here delivered with intent: the wording is identical, only the heart behind it differs.

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Joseph BensonCommentary on the Old and New Testaments1810s

The sense is, that upon any information or suspicion of murder, laid against any one that had taken refuge in any of these cities, the magistrates of the town or district where the fact was committed, should send for the person out of the refuge-city, bring him to a fair trial, and, upon clear evidence of wilful murder, condemn him to death

Benson supplies the procedure the verse compresses: extradition, fair trial, conviction on clear evidence, then execution.

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

this does not transfer to the elders the duty of instituting a judicial inquiry, and deciding the matter, as Riehm follows Vater and De Wette in maintaining, for the purpose of proving that there is a discrepancy between Deuteronomy and the previous legislation. They are simply commanded to perform the duty devolving upon them as magistrates and administrators of local affairs.

K&D defend the harmony with Numbers 35: the elders execute, the congregation judges — no contradiction.

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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

The control of the old custom—in which the punishment of a murderer was a family duty—is in the hands of the public authorities.

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the elders of his city must send for him, bring him back, and hand him over to the avenger of blood to die.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ziq·nê ‘î·rōw wə·šā·lə·ḥū wə·lā·qə·ḥū ’ō·ṯōw miš·šām wə·nā·ṯə·nū ’ō·ṯōw bə·yaḏ gō·’êl had·dām wā·mêṯ

Word by word12 · parsed

זִקְנֵ֣יziq·nêthe eldersH2205

√ zâqên — oldAdjectivemasculine plural construct

ziq·nê ‘î·rōw (H2205) — ⚙ “the elders of his city” — the murderer's own town, not the victim's. The community that knows him best is charged with surrendering him. Cambridge: the family duty of vengeance is now “in the hands of the public authorities.”

עִיר֔וֹ‘î·rōwof his cityH5892

√ ʻîyr — a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the widest sense (even of a mere encampment or post)Nounfeminine singular constructthird person masculine singular

וְשָֽׁלְחוּ֙wə·šā·lə·ḥūmust send for himH7971

√ shâlach — to send away, for, or out (in a great variety of applications)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectthird person common plural

וְלָקְח֥וּwə·lā·qə·ḥūbringH3947

√ lâqach — to take (in the widest variety of applications)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectthird person common plural

אֹת֖וֹ’ō·ṯōwhimH853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object markerthird person masculine singular

מִשָּׁ֑םmiš·šāmbackH8033

√ shâm — there (transferring to time) thenPreposition-mAdverb

וְנָתְנ֣וּwə·nā·ṯə·nūand hand him over toH5414

√ nâthan — to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make, etcConjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectthird person common plural

wə·nā·ṯə·nū (H5414) — “and they shall give / hand over.” The plural verb keeps the act corporate: the elders, not a lone avenger, initiate the handover.

אֹת֗וֹ’ō·ṯōwH853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object markerthird person masculine singular

בְּיַ֛דbə·yaḏH3027

√ yâd — a hand (the open one (indicating power, means, direction, etcPreposition-bNounfeminine singular construct

גֹּאֵ֥לgō·’êlthe avengerH1350

√ gâʼal — to be the next of kin (and as such to buy back a relative's property, marry his widow, etcVerbQalParticiplemasculine singular construct

הַדָּ֖םhad·dāmof bloodH1818

√ dâm — blood (as that which when shed causes death) of man or an animalArticleNounmasculine singular

וָמֵֽת׃wā·mêṯto dieH4191

√ mûwth — to die (literally or figuratively)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectthird person masculine singular

wā·mêṯ (H4191), mûwth — “and he shall die.” The blunt close: for the proven murderer there is no “and live” (vv. 4, 5). The chapter's two verdicts are sealed by their final verbs — live for the innocent, die for the guilty.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

then-shall-send the-elders of-his-city and-take him from-there, and-give him into-the-hand of-the-avenger of-the-blood, and-he-shall-die.

Where the English smooths the original

זִקְנֵ֣י BSB's “elders” renders ziq·nê (H2205), zâqên — literally “the bearded ones,” the town's senior magistrates. Keil insists their role here is executive, not judicial: they “perform the duty devolving upon them as magistrates,” not to retry the case but to surrender the proven murderer.
בְּיַ֛ד “Hand over to” renders bə·yaḏ (H3027), yâd — literally “into the hand of.” The phrase keeps the blood-avenger as the executor: the elders do not themselves kill, they place him in the avenger's hand, preserving the kinsman's ancient office under public control.
גֹּאֵ֥ל “The avenger of blood” is again gō·’êl had·dām (H1350) — the same gōʼēl who in v. 6 was the threat to the innocent is here the lawful instrument of justice on the guilty. One office, two opposite outcomes, sorted by the elders.

The Voices✦ 3 public domain

John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63

This is not said to the avenger of blood, who is not to be supposed to have any pity or compassion on such a person, but to the elders, judges, and civil magistrates of the city to which he belonged, who took cognizance of his case; these were to show him no favour on account of his being a citizen, a neighbour, a relation or friend, or a rich man

Gill addresses the 'no pity' to the magistrates: no favoritism for a fellow-citizen, friend, or rich man.

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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

In Israel the wilful murderer must die. Such distinctions of Israel’s system from the customs of her Semitic neighbours, involving as they do both a greater humanity in one direction and a greater severity in the other, are of the highest ethical interest.

Cambridge's additional note: unlike Arab vendetta-compromise, Israel allows no financial settlement for murder — more merciful to the innocent, more severe on the guilty.

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Geneva Study BibleMarginal Notes1599

Then whoever pardons murder, goes against the word of God.

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You must show him no pity. You are to purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, that it may go well with you.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

lō- ṯā·ḥō·ws ‘ā·lāw ‘ê·nə·ḵā ū·ḇi·‘ar·tā mî·yiś·rā·’êl han·nā·qî ḏam- wə·ṭō·wḇ lāḵ

Word by word10 · parsed

לֹא־lō-vvvH3808

√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absAdverbNegative particle

תָח֥וֹסṯā·ḥō·wsYou must show him no pityH2347

√ chûwç — properly, to cover, iVerbQalImperfectthird person feminine singular

ṯā·ḥō·ws (H2347) — Geneva's terse gloss: “whoever pardons murder, goes against the word of God.” Misplaced mercy to the guilty is itself a wrong against the innocent dead.

עָלָ֑יו‘ā·lāw. . .H5921

√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPrepositionthird person masculine singular

עֵֽינְךָ֖‘ê·nə·ḵā. . .H5869

√ ʻayin — an eye (literally or figuratively)Nouncommon singular constructsecond person masculine singular

וּבִֽעַרְתָּ֧ū·ḇi·‘ar·tāYou are to purgeH1197

√ bâʻar — to kindle, iConjunctive wawVerbPielConjunctive perfectsecond person masculine singular

ū·ḇi·‘ar·tā (H1197) — ⚙ The “burn out” formula recurs across Deuteronomy's penal laws (13:5; 17:7; 21:21). The body politic is purified by removing the murderer; bloodguilt is treated as a contagion in the land.

מִיִּשְׂרָאֵ֖לmî·yiś·rā·’êlfrom IsraelH3478

√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobPreposition-mNounpropermasculine singular

הַנָּקִ֛יhan·nā·qîthe guilt of shedding innocentH5355

√ nâqîy — innocentArticleAdjectivemasculine singular

דַֽם־ḏam-bloodH1818

√ dâm — blood (as that which when shed causes death) of man or an animalNounmasculine singular construct

וְט֥וֹבwə·ṭō·wḇthat it may go wellH2896

√ ṭôwb — good (as an adjective) in the widest senseConjunctive wawAdjectivemasculine singular

wə·ṭō·wḇ (H2896) — Cambridge calls this “another recurrent phrase” (4:40; 5:16, 29). The chapter ends its judicial core on a promise: rightly-administered justice secures Israel's welfare.

לָֽךְ׃סlāḵwith you

Prepositionsecond person masculine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

Your-eye shall-not pity over-him, and-you-shall-purge [the guilt of]-the-innocent blood from-Israel, and-[it-shall]-go-well with-you.

Where the English smooths the original

תָח֥וֹס BSB's “show him no pity” renders ṯā·ḥō·ws (H2347), chûwç — “to cover, to spare, to look with compassion.” The idiom is “your eye shall not spare him.” Gill notes the warning is addressed not to the avenger but to the judges, against partiality toward a fellow-citizen.
וּבִֽעַרְתָּ֧ “Purge” renders ū·ḇi·‘ar·tā (H1197), bâʻar — “to kindle, to burn.” Ellicott (on v. 13): “Literally, consume, or, as it were, burn out.” The guilt is to be cauterized from Israel as one burns out an infection.
וְט֥וֹב “That it may go well” renders wə·ṭō·wḇ lāḵ (H2896, ṭôwb) — literally “and good to you.” The recurring Deuteronomic reward-formula (cf. 4:40; 5:16): doing justice on the murderer is not vengeance but the path to national good.

The Voices✦ 4 public domain

Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

Another law manifestly appropriate here, where it appears for the first time, like the “field” in the tenth commandment ( Deuteronomy 5:21 ). But the immediate connection is not obvious. Perhaps the idea is to caution the people to avoid a most certain incentive to hatred and murder. Ancient landmarks are also important and almost sacred witnesses. They of old time. —The first dividers of the land. There is no idea of antiquity about the expression.

Ellicott both supplies the link (boundary-greed breeds the very hatred that ends in murder) and corrects 'they of old time' — not the ancients, but the land's first dividers.

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

because property by which life is supported participates in the sacredness of life itself, just as in Deuteronomy 20:19-20 , sparing the fruit-trees is mentioned in connection with the men who were to be spared

K&D explain why the landmark-law sits among the homicide laws: a man's livelihood shares the sacredness of his life.

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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

Other nations expressed the same reverence for the sacredness of boundaries, in similar laws, or protests, against their removal. For the Greeks see Plato, Legg . viii. 842 e, for the Romans Dion. Hal. ii. 74, Plutarch, Numa 16.

Cambridge situates the law among the wider ancient reverence for boundary-stones — Greek, Roman, and Babylonian.

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Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871

It is manifest that a dishonest person could easily fill the gutter with earth, or remove these stones a few feet without much risk of detection and so enlarge his own field by a stealthy encroachment on his neighbor's. This law, then, was made to prevent such trespasses.

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You must not move your neighbor’s boundary marker, which was set up by your ancestors to mark the inheritance you shall receive in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

lō ṯas·sîḡ rê·‘ă·ḵā ’ă·šer gə·ḇūl gā·ḇə·lū ri·šō·nîm bə·na·ḥă·lā·ṯə·ḵā ’ă·šer tin·ḥal bā·’ā·reṣ ’ă·šer Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā nō·ṯên lə·ḵā lə·riš·tāh

Word by word17 · parsed

לֹ֤אlōYou must notH3808

√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absAdverbNegative particle

lō tas·sîḡ (H5253) — ⚙ Keil sees the placement as deliberate: a man's landmark stands here beside his life because “property by which life is supported participates in the sacredness of life itself.” The chapter moves from guarding the manslayer to guarding the neighbor's field by the same logic.

תַסִּיג֙ṯas·sîḡmoveH5253

√ nâçag — to retreatVerbHifilImperfectsecond person masculine singular

רֵֽעֲךָ֔rê·‘ă·ḵāyour neighbor’sH7453

√ rêaʻ — an associate (more or less close)Nounmasculine singular constructsecond person masculine singular

אֲשֶׁ֥ר’ă·šerH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

גְּב֣וּלgə·ḇūlboundary markerH1366

√ gᵉbûwl — properly, a cord (as twisted), iNounmasculine singular construct

gə·ḇūl (H1366) — Poole cross-refers Job 24:2, Prov 22:28, Hos 5:10 — the standing biblical witnesses against moving a boundary. Deut 27:17 pronounces a curse on the one who does it.

גָּבְל֖וּgā·ḇə·lūwhich was set upH1379

√ gâbal — properly, to twist as aropeVerbQalPerfectthird person common plural

רִאשֹׁנִ֑יםri·šō·nîmby your ancestorsH7223

√ riʼshôwn — first, in place, time or rank (as adjective or noun)Adjectivemasculine plural

ri·šō·nîm (H7223) — the Pulpit Commentary: the word “does not necessarily imply that the age described as ‘former’ was removed at a great distance in the past.” The boundaries are those set by the land's first apportioners (cf. Josh 18–19).

בְּנַחֲלָֽתְךָ֙bə·na·ḥă·lā·ṯə·ḵā[to mark] the inheritanceH5159

√ nachălâh — properly, something inherited, iPreposition-bNounfeminine singular constructsecond person masculine singular

bə·na·ḥă·lā·ṯə·ḵā (H5159), nachălâh — “in your inheritance.” ⚙ The inheritance-vocabulary closes the unit as it opened (v. 3): the land is held in trust, parcel by parcel, and its lines are not a man's to redraw.

אֲשֶׁ֣ר’ă·šerH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

תִּנְחַ֔לtin·ḥalyou shall receiveH5157

√ nâchal — to inherit (as a (figurative) mode of descent), or (generally) to occupyVerbQalImperfectsecond person masculine singular

בָּאָ֕רֶץbā·’ā·reṣin the landH776

√ ʼerets — the earth (at large, or partitively a land)Preposition-b, ArticleNounfeminine singular

אֲשֶׁר֙’ă·šerthatH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

יְהוָ֣הYah·wehthe LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular

אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵāyour GodH430

√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseNounmasculine plural constructsecond person masculine singular

נֹתֵ֥ןnō·ṯênis givingH5414

√ nâthan — to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make, etcVerbQalParticiplemasculine singular

לְךָ֖lə·ḵāyou

Prepositionsecond person masculine singular

לְרִשְׁתָּֽהּ׃סlə·riš·tāhto possessH3423

√ yârash — to occupy (by driving out previous tenants, and possessing in their place)Preposition-lVerbQalInfinitive constructthird person feminine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

You-shall-not move-back the-boundary of-your-neighbor, which set-up the-former-ones, in-your-inheritance that you-shall-inherit in-the-land that the-LORD your-God [is]-giving to-you to-possess-it.

Where the English smooths the original

תַסִּיג֙ BSB's “move” renders ṯas·sîḡ (H5253), nâçag — “to displace, move back.” Cambridge: “Lit. so: re-move, move back, so as to make one's own field larger.” This rare verb (only 9 verses) is the exact term the prophets reuse for the crime (Hos 5:10; Prov 22:28) — see threads.
רִאשֹׁנִ֑ים “Your ancestors” renders ri·šō·nîm (H7223), riʼshôwn — “the former ones, the first.” Ellicott cautions: “There is no idea of antiquity about the expression” — it means the original dividers of the land, not a remote, hoary past.
גְּב֣וּל “Boundary marker” renders gə·ḇūl (H1366), gᵉbûwl — “boundary, border,” from a root meaning “a twisted cord.” The same noun named the territory divided in v. 3; here it is the sacred line between neighbors. Property and life are guarded by one vocabulary.

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. A road kept ready, a land cut clean — 1–3

The law opens not with a command but with a horizon: “kî — when the LORD your God shall yaḵ·rîṯ (cut off) the nations” (v. 1). Yahweh is the agent who cuts the land clean; only then does Israel yârash (dispossess) and yâshab (settle). ✦ Gill grounds the whole institution in this prior act of God — the land “was a gift of him that had a right to dispose of it.” ⚙ Because God has cleared the ground, the question of innocent blood within it becomes Israel's to answer. The answer is geography turned into mercy: three cities taḇ·dîl (set apart) — the priestly verb of consecration — bə·ṯō·wḵ (in the midst) of the land (v. 2). ✦ Poole and ✦ Benson both insist “in the midst” means “in the midst of the several parts,” a deliberate distribution; ✦ Jamieson, Fausset & Brown add the cities were to be “conspicuous and accessible, and equidistant.” Then the road itself: tā·ḵîn (prepare) the way (v. 3). ✦ Barnes preserves the rabbinic picture — bridged, 32-cubit highways, with posts reading “Refuge, Refuge” at every fork — and ventures that “in Isaiah 40:3 ff the imagery were borrowed from the preparation of the ways to the cities of refuge.” ⚙ That conjecture is worth holding lightly but not discarding: the refuge-road and the highway-for-God share both the verb and the urgency.

ii. The slipped axe-head — innocence by lack of knowledge — 4–7

The casuistic heading “this is the də·ḇar (matter) of the manslayer” (v. 4) introduces the test case, and it is exquisitely chosen. A man goes to the yaʻar — which ✦ the Cambridge Bible warns is not “forest” but “copse or jungle or, at the most, woodland,” an open place where, ✦ Gill notes from the Mishnah, “him that hurts and him that is hurt” both have a right to be. He swings the axe; the hab·bar·zel (iron) nâshal (slips) from the ‘êts (wood) and finds his neighbor (v. 5). ✦ Barnes flags the bare datum — “literally, ‘with the iron’” — a window onto Iron-Age tools. The whole exoneration turns on two Hebrew phrases: biḇ·lî-ḏa·‘aṯ (without knowledge) and lō śō·nê (not hating) him mit·tə·mōl šil·šōm (from yesterday, the day before) (v. 4). ⚙ Note the precision: the law does not ask whether harm was done — it plainly was — but whether hatred preceded it. The rare idiom “yesterday and the day before” sets an evidentiary window for prior malice. Without it, the man's blood is nāqî, and the hot gōʼēl who would spill it must be outrun (v. 6). “Upon thus,” v. 7 concludes (‘al-kên), gathering vv. 4–6 into a single therefore and repeating v. 2 word-for-word.

iii. The land that never came — mercy held in conditional reserve — 8–10

Then a strange, forward-leaning provision: if Yahweh yar·ḥîḇ (enlarges) the border “as far as Euphrates” (✦ Poole, ✦ Gill; cf. Gen 15:18), and if Israel will shâmar (keep), ʼâhab (love), and hâlak (walk in His ways), then three more cities (v. 8–9). The commentators are unanimous and candid that this never happened. ✦ Benson: “the promise of enlarging their border was conditional, and the condition not being performed the promise was never accomplished… This the Jewish writers themselves own.” ✦ Keil & Delitzsch put it flatly: “The circumstances supposed by Moses never existed, since the Israelites did not fulfil the conditions laid down in Deuteronomy 19:9.” ✦ Ellicott records the fascinating afterlife of the unfulfilled clause: some Jewish writers “take the promise as prophetical,” reading it of Israel's “ultimate restoration,” when God will have “circumcised their heart” “to love the Lord,” and “then the promises will be fulfilled.” ⚙ Here the synthesis must be careful and honest. The text holds a real provision in conditional reserve — a mercy contingent on a love Israel did not render. That the apparatus of refuge was designed to expand with obedience, and contracted with disobedience, is itself a theology: the reach of sanctuary tracks the heart of the people. The stated aim closes the movement — “that nā·qî dām (innocent blood) be not shâphak (shed)” (v. 10), lest dā·mîm (bloodguilt) fall on the whole nation by ✦ Cambridge's “principle of ethical solidarity.”

iv. Two flights, two verdicts — and the neighbor's line — 11–14

Now the dark mirror. “But if a man is śō·nê (hating) his neighbor, and ʼârab (lies in wait)” (v. 11) — the same flight to the same city, the same nephesh-blow as v. 6, but one word changes everything: hatred, present, established. ✦ Ellicott preserves Rashi's chain — hatred to ambush to bloodshed — and seals it with John: “What is this but ‘He that hateth his brother is a murderer’?” (1 John 3:15). For this man the ziq·nê (elders) of his own city must fetch him out and give him bə·yaḏ (into the hand) of the avenger (v. 12). ✦ Keil insists the elders act as magistrates executing a verdict, not judges retrying it; ✦ Cambridge sees the family vendetta now “in the hands of the public authorities.” The two flights end on opposite verbs — wā·ḥāy (and he lives, vv. 4–5) for the innocent, wā·mêṯ (and he dies, v. 12) for the guilty — and the eye must not chûwç (pity) the murderer, but bâʻar (burn out) the bloodguilt (v. 13). ⚙ Then the seemingly stray landmark law (v. 14). ✦ Keil supplies the thread: a man's gᵉbûwl (boundary) stands beside his life because “property by which life is supported participates in the sacredness of life itself.” ✦ Ellicott goes further — moving a boundary is “a most certain incentive to hatred and murder.” The chapter that guards the manslayer's life ends by guarding the line that feeds his neighbor's, both by the verb nâçag the prophets would later hurl at Israel (Hos 5:10).

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ Read under Sola Scriptura, Deuteronomy 19 is a single sustained meditation on innocent blood and the discrimination it demands. The genius of the law is that it refuses two easy errors at once. It will not let the avenger's hot heart treat every death as murder (vv. 4–6); and it will not let sanctuary become a loophole for the murderer who hates and lies in wait (vv. 11–13). The hinge between life and death is not the deed — both men struck a nephesh and a neighbor died — but the heart: śō·nê, hatred, present or absent. That is why the otherwise-stray landmark law belongs (v. 14): covetousness for a neighbor's field is, as Ellicott saw, the seedbed of the very hatred that ends in blood. And it is why the unfulfilled clause of vv. 8–10 is not an embarrassment but a disclosure: the reach of refuge was meant to grow with Israel's love of God, and it did not grow — because the love was not given. The law that guards innocent blood thus quietly indicts the people who hold it, and points past itself to a refuge that does not depend on the conditions Israel failed to keep. This is the tool's fallible reading; it is offered to be tested against the text.

The same flight, the same city, the same fatal blow — only the heart sorts the living from the dead. (an interpretive line, not Scripture)

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The parallel charter of refuge (Deuteronomy 4:42) verbal / quotation — confirmed

Moses had already named the three eastern cities “that the rō·ṣê·aḥ (manslayer) might nûwç (flee) thither… and châyâh (live)” (Deut 4:42), in language all but identical to vv. 4–5 here. ⚙ The Verifier records the shared cluster râtsach (H7523, 40 vv), nûwç (H5127), and châyâh (H2421), joined by the rare twin idiom tᵉmôwl (H8543, 22 vv) / shilshôwm (H8032, 25 vv), “yesterday and the day before.” ✦ The Cambridge Bible flags it directly: this verse “has slayeth for smiteth.” The two passages are one ordinance, stated east and west of the Jordan.

Deuteronomy 4:42

basis: Verifier: shared lexemes H8543 tᵉmôwl (22 vv), H8032 shilshôwm (25 vv), H7523 râtsach (40 vv), H1097 bᵉlîy (58 vv) — the rare 'yesterday/day-before' idiom plus the murder-verb fingerprint the same law (Hebrew↔Hebrew).

The slayer at the gate (Joshua 20:5) structural / thematic — confirmed

Joshua's execution of this very command supplies the missing courtroom step: when the avenger pursues, the elders shall not deliver up the rō·ṣê·aḥ (slayer)… because he smote his rêaʻ (neighbor) unwittingly, and hated him not beforetime” (Josh 20:5). ⚙ Run against v. 4, the Verifier records a strong cluster: the murder-verb râtsach (H7523, 40 vv), rêaʻ (H7453), bᵉlîy (H1097, 58 vv, “without [knowledge]”), and the rare twin idiom tᵉmôwl (H8543, 22 vv) / shilshôwm (H8032, 25 vv), “beforetime.” ✦ Ellicott notes the western cities “were appointed by Joshua after the conquest (Joshua 20)” — Joshua 20 is Deuteronomy 19 enacted, the law moving from statute to history. The rare idiom alone could carry a verbal tier, but because Joshua 20 reuses Moses' own phrasing as an enactment of the statute (not a citation of it as a source), the link is tiered structural, under-claiming by design.

Joshua 20:5

basis: Verifier (19:4↔Josh 20:5): shared H7523 râtsach (40 vv), H7453 rêaʻ (173 vv), H1097 bᵉlîy (58 vv), and the rare idiom H8543 tᵉmôwl (22 vv) / H8032 shilshôwm (25 vv). The rare-idiom overlap would warrant 'verbal,' but tiered structural here because Joshua 20 is an enactment of the statute, reusing its language as administration rather than quoting it as a source (Hebrew↔Hebrew); honest under-claim.

The axe that must not boast — and the stones it must not touch verbal / quotation — confirmed

The accidental garzen (axe, v. 5) is a rare word — only four verses in the Hebrew Bible. ⚙ The Verifier links it to Isaiah 10:15 (“Shall the garzen (axe) boast itself against him that heweth therewith?”, shared H1631 + H6086 ʻêts) and to 1 Kings 6:7 (the temple built so that “neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of barzel (iron) was heard,” shared H1631 + H1270). The slipped iron that kills by accident, the axe that arrogantly boasts, and the iron tool barred from sacred stones form one meditation on the human instrument: lethal when loosed, blasphemous when proud, excluded where God's work is done.

Isaiah 10:15 · 1 Kings 6:7

basis: Verifier: shared rare lexeme H1631 garzen (only 4 vv) with Isaiah 10:15 (+H6086 ʻêts) and 1 Kings 6:7 (+H1270 barzel); the four-verse rarity of garzen makes these firm verbal links (Hebrew↔Hebrew).

Sparing the tree, sparing the man (Deuteronomy 20:19) structural / thematic — confirmed

The same chapter's logic recurs in the siege-law: “thou shalt not kârath (cut down)” the fruit ‘êts (trees), “for is the tree of the field a man?” (Deut 20:19). ⚙ The Verifier records shared kârath (H3772) and ʻêts (H6086). ✦ Keil draws the connection explicitly to v. 14 here: “just as in Deuteronomy 20:19-20, sparing the fruit-trees is mentioned in connection with the men who were to be spared.” The cutting that opens this chapter (God cutting off the nations, v. 1) and the cutting of timber that kills (v. 5) are answered by a law that restrains the axe for the sake of life.

Deuteronomy 20:19

basis: Verifier (19:5↔20:19): shared H3772 kârath (280 vv), H6086 ʻêts (288 vv), and incidentally the rare H1631 garzen (4 vv). The connection being claimed, however, is Keil's thematic motif — felling-verb and tree, tying refuge-law to siege-law (sparing trees ↔ sparing men) — not a quotation; the shared garzen is coincidental (both passages mention an axe) rather than the load-bearing link, so the honest tier is structural (Hebrew↔Hebrew).

Removing the landmark — the prophets prosecute the law (Hosea 5:10; Proverbs 22:28) verbal / quotation — confirmed

The verb of v. 14, nâçag (to move back a boundary), is rare — nine verses — and the later canon reuses it precisely. Hosea indicts Judah's princes as “like them that nâçag (remove) the gᵉbûwl (boundary)” (Hos 5:10); Proverbs warns, “Remove not the ancient landmark which thy fathers have set” (Prov 22:28). ⚙ The Verifier records shared nâçag (H5253, 9 vv) and gᵉbûwl (H1366) for both. ✦ Poole already chained these texts together. The Deuteronomic statute becomes a standing measure by which prophet and sage arraign the covenant people.

Hosea 5:10 · Proverbs 22:28

basis: Verifier: shared rare lexeme H5253 nâçag (only 9 vv) plus H1366 gᵉbûwl with both Hosea 5:10 and Proverbs 22:28; the rare boundary-removal verb makes the prophetic/wisdom echoes firm verbal links to the statute (Hebrew↔Hebrew).

Innocent blood and the unbearing land (Deuteronomy 21:8) structural / thematic — confirmed

The phrase nā·qî dām (innocent blood, v. 10) becomes a fixed category in Deuteronomy. The unsolved-murder rite of Deut 21 prays, “lay not nā·qî (innocent) dām (blood) to thy people Israel's charge” (Deut 21:8). ⚙ The Verifier records shared nâqîy (H5355, 42 vv), dām (H1818), and qereb (H7130). Both passages treat the land as defiled by unatoned innocent blood and lay the guilt on the whole community — ✦ Cambridge's “ethical solidarity.”

Deuteronomy 21:8

basis: Verifier: shared lexemes H5355 nâqîy (42 vv), H1818 dâm (295 vv), H7130 qereb (220 vv) — a shared legal category ('innocent blood,' corporate bloodguilt) rather than a rare-word quotation; tiered structural (Hebrew↔Hebrew).

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The refuge to which the guilty flee and live ancient/widely-held

✦ Matthew Henry's reading of this passage is the classic Christological one, and it is ancient and widely held: “In Christ, the Lord our Righteousness, refuge is provided for those who by faith flee unto him. But there is no refuge in Jesus Christ for presumptuous sinners, who go on still in their trespasses.” ⚙ The figure has real anchorage in the text: the manslayer is safe only inside the city and only if he nûwç (flees) — refuge is by flight, not by merit, and it is forfeited by hatred (vv. 11–13). The writer to the Hebrews makes the connection structurally, naming believers as those who “have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us” (Heb 6:18) — the one NT text that takes up the refuge-image directly. ⚙ The link is figural, not a quotation of Deuteronomy 19; it is named typological here.

Hebrews 6:18 · Numbers 35:25

The High Priest's death that frees the manslayer ancient/widely-held

In the fuller law (Num 35:25, 28), the manslayer remains in the city “until the death of the high priest” — at that death he goes free. ⚙ The early church and many since read this typologically: the death of the true High Priest is what releases the one sheltering under sanctuary. Deuteronomy 19 does not state this detail, but its whole institution presupposes the priestly framework of Numbers 35. ⚙ This is a figural reading, offered as such; its strength is that it is the law's own logic (release by a priest's death), not an imported allegory. The connection to Christ as the High Priest who dies (Heb 7–9) is widely held in the tradition.

Numbers 35:25 · Hebrews 9:15

The conditional land and the enlarged borders of grace novel

⚙ A more novel reading, offered tentatively: ✦ Benson and ✦ Gill both spiritualize the unfulfilled enlargement of vv. 8–9. Benson: “we know it has in Christ its spiritual accomplishment. For the borders of the gospel Israel are enlarged according to the promise: and in the Lord our righteousness, refuge is provided for all that by faith flee to him.” ⚙ The reading turns Israel's failure to meet the condition (love God, walk in His ways) into the very gap the gospel fills — the borders Israel could not earn by obedience are enlarged in Christ, and the extra cities of refuge that history never built become, figuratively, the wide welcome of grace. ⚙ This is a constructive typology, more homiletical than exegetical; it is flagged as novel and held loosely.

Deuteronomy 19:8 · Deuteronomy 19:9 · Isaiah 54:2

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
Keil & Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1860s)
Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

⚙ On the unfulfilled clause (vv. 8–10). The commentary in this unit reflects a genuine consensus — Benson, Keil & Delitzsch, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, and Ellicott all agree the conditional enlargement to the Euphrates and its three extra cities never occurred. ✦ Ellicott reports that some Jewish writers “take the promise as prophetical,” reading it of Israel's “ultimate restoration” when God will have “circumcised their heart” (Deut 30:6) “to love the Lord”; that messianic-restoration reading is reported as their view, not endorsed. ⚙ The synthesis treats the clause as conditional law whose condition went unmet, and reads its theology (mercy contingent on love) from that fact.

⚙ On the rabbinic and ethnographic detail. The roads' 32-cubit width, the “Refuge, Refuge” signposts (✦ Barnes, JFB, Gill), and the Arab-vendetta parallels (✦ Cambridge's additional note, citing Doughty and Musil) are preserved as the human sources gave them; they are tradition and comparative ethnography, not the bare text, and are marked ✦ throughout.

⚙ On the cross-references. All thread bases are the Verifier's computed shared-Strong's lexemes. Three threads rest on genuinely rare words and are tiered verbal: garzen (axe, 4 vv), nâçag (remove a boundary, 9 vv), and the tᵉmôwl/shilshôwm idiom with Deut 4:42. Where only common lexemes are shared (kârath, ʻêts, dām, nâqîy), the link is downgraded to structural / thematic. The Joshua 20:5 link, though it shares the murder-verb, is tiered structural because it is an enactment of the statute rather than a quotation of it.

⚙ On the Christ readings. All three are figural/typological, never claimed as verbal quotation of Deuteronomy 19. The first two (refuge by flight; release at the High Priest's death) are ancient and widely held and rest on the law's own priestly logic via Numbers 35; the third (enlarged borders of grace) is a constructive homiletical typology and is flagged novel.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)