Deuteronomy 19:3

Deu 19:3 Thou shalt prepare thee a way, and divide the coasts of thy land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee to inherit, into three parts, that every slayer may flee thither.

Ver. 3. Thou shalt prepare thee a way.] A direct, plain, fair highway: such a way must ministers prepare and pave for their people to Christ, the true asylum, by giving them "the knowledge of salvation by the remission of their sins." {Luk 1:76-77}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Deu 19:3. Thou shalt prepare thee a way — 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. And divide the coasts of thy land — Thy possessions on the west of Jordan into three equal parts, and in the central part of each open a place of refuge, which being nearly at an equal distance with respect to the inhabitants of that district, all might have the same benefit by it.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Make an open and ready way.

Which killeth against his will, and bare no hatred in his heart.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Thou shalt prepare thee a way--The roads leading to them were to be kept in good condition and the brooks or rivers to be spanned by good bridges; the width of the roads was to be thirty-two cubits; and at all the crossroads signposts were to be erected with the words, Mekeleth, Mekeleth, "refuge, refuge," painted on them.

divide the coasts of thy land . . . into three parts--the whole extent of the country from the south to the north. The three cities on each side of Jordan were opposite to each other, "as two rows of vines in a vineyard" (see on Jos 20:7).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 3. Thou shalt prepare thee a way] The Jews inform us that the roads to the cities of refuge were made very broad, thirty-two cubits; and even, so that there should be no impediments in the way; and were constantly kept in good repair.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

3. prepare thee the way] Usually taken as making the road open and firm. But (though Steuern.’s objection to this meaning, that such preparation would give equal advantage to the pursuer with the pursued, is hypercritical) this has no relevance to the rest of the v., as the older translators already saw and gave it another sense: LXX στόχασαί σοι, ‘reckon,’ or ‘guess,’ O.L. aestimare. Steuern. renders measure the distance. Better fix, or make sure of, the direction (in which the cities lie), and divide the area of thy land into three.

every manslayer] The general term, Deu_4:42.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Thou shalt prepare thee a way,.... A road, an highway to those cities: on the first of Adar, or February, the magistrates used to meet, and proclaimed, or ordered to be proclaimed, that the ways be repaired (r), particularly those leading to the cities of refuge; which was done by making them smooth and plain, so that there was not an hill or dale to be seen; and by building bridges over rivers and brooks, that he might escape who had killed anyone through mistake, and not be hindered, lest the avenger of blood should overtake him and kill him (s); and therefore every obstruction was removed out of the way, that there might be a clear course for him; and at the parting of ways, or where two or more ways met, that he might not be at a loss one moment which way to take, "refuge" was written, as Jarchi and other writers observe, upon posts or pillars erected for that purpose: See Gill on Num 35:6,

and divide the coasts of thy land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee to inherit, in three parts; in each of which was to be a city of refuge, and those at an equal distance: so Jarchi observes, that this was done that there might be from the beginning of the border (of the land) unto the first city of the cities of refuge, according to the measure of a journey, that there is from that to the second, and so from the second to the third, and so from the third to the other border of the land of Israel: of the situation of these cities, so as to answer to those on the other side Jordan; see Gill on Num 35:14,

that every slayer may flee thither; to that which is nearest and most convenient for him, that is, who had slain a man unawares, as follows.

(r) Misn. Shekalim, c. 1. sect. 1. (s) Maimon. & Bartenora in ib.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Way, and keeping all in good repair, with guide-posts at the crossroads, on which Oleaster says moklot, "escape," was written. See Numbers xxxv.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Thou shalt prepare thee a way; distinguish it by evident marks, and make it plain and convenient, to prevent mistakes and delays.

Into three parts; not into more, because it was fit that these places should, as far as it was possible, be at some considerable distance from the friends of the slain person, lest the sight of the manslayer might have provoked their passion, and occasioned his ruin.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

3. Thou shalt prepare thee a way — The sentence might read, prepare the road. This was understood to be a direction to have the roads leading to the cities of refuge kept in order. The hills were to be levelled; the streams were to be bridged; the road was to be thirty-two cubits broad.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Thou shalt prepare thee a way. In the East, the roads were for the most part mere tracks made by the feet of animals used as beasts of burden or for traveling; and this continues to be the case in Palestine and many other parts of the East even at the present day. That roads, however, properly so called, were not unknown to the Hebrews, even in early times, is evident, not only from this passage, but also from Lev_26:22; Num_20:17 Num_21:22; Deu_2:27; 1Sa_6:12. The design of the injunction here was that every facility should be afforded to the fugitive to escape to the place of refuge. In later times, it was enacted that the roads leading to these cities should be repaired every year in the month Adar, and every obstruction removed.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Prepare thee a way - Distinguish it by evident marks, and make it plain and convenient, to prevent mistakes and delays.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

תכין לך הדרך THOU SHALT PREPARE THEE A WAY — “Refuge!” "Refuge!" was inscribed at each crossroad (to point the way to the nearest city of refuge) (Makkot 10b).

ושלשת את גבול ארצך AND THOU SHALT DIVIDE THE TERRITORY OF THY LAND … INTO THREE PARTS — so that from the point where the boundary begins unto the first city of refuge there should be the same length of journey as there is from it to the second city; and that there should be the same distance from the second to the third and from the third to the other (opposite) boundary of the Land of Israel (Makkot 9b).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.