Discovery BoxDeuteronomy 19:1-3 
Context19:1 When the Lord your God destroys the nations whose land he 1 is about to give you and you dispossess them and settle in their cities and houses, 19:2 you must set apart for yourselves three cities 2 in the middle of your land that the Lord your God is giving you as a possession. 19:3 You shall build a roadway and divide into thirds the whole extent 3 of your land that the Lord your God is providing as your inheritance; anyone who kills another person should flee to the closest of these cities.
Deuteronomy 19:9
Context19:9 and then you are careful to observe all these commandments 4 I am giving 5 you today (namely, to love the Lord your God and to always walk in his ways), then you must add three more cities 6 to these three.
1 tn Heb “the
2 sn These three cities, later designated by Joshua, were Kedesh of Galilee, Shechem, and Hebron (Josh 20:7-9).
3 tn Heb “border.”
4 tn Heb “all this commandment.” This refers here to the entire covenant agreement of the Book of Deuteronomy as encapsulated in the Shema (Deut 6:4-5).
5 tn Heb “commanding”; NAB “which I enjoin on you today.”
6 sn You will add three more cities. Since these are alluded to nowhere else and thus were probably never added, this must be a provision for other cities of refuge should they be needed (cf. v. 8). See P. C. Craigie, Deuteronomy (NICOT), 267.
