Deuteronomy 19:9

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex) Deuteronomy 19:9 appears in the Hebrew Old Testament. The text above is from the Westminster Leningrad Codex. Each word links to its Strong’s number, a concise gloss, and parsing drawn from the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible morphology. Click any word for its full Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB) entry.
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Deuteronomy 19:9 (World English Bible). Public Domain. Lemma interlinear Bible study tool, https://lemma.gebible.app/v/deuteronomy/19/9.

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English Translation
if you shall keep all this commandment to do it, which I command you this day, to love Yahweh your God, and to walk ever in his ways; then shall you add three cities more for you, besides these three:
World English Bible · Public Domain
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Compare translations 3

The same verse in 3 English versions, stacked beneath the original-language interlinear above. Click any original word for its lexicon entry.

Each is an independent rendering of the whole verse — the interlinear is not word-aligned to these translations.

Highlighted words mark where these versions differ — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment.

  • World English Bible Public Domain
    if you shall keep all this commandment to do it, which I command you this day, to love Yahweh your God, and to walk ever in his ways; then shall you add three cities more for you, besides these three:
  • King James Version Public Domain
    If thou shalt keep all these commandments to do them, which I command thee this day, to love the LORD thy God, and to walk ever in his ways; then shalt thou add three cities more for thee, beside these three:
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
    if you keep all these commandments to do them, which I am commanding you today—to love Yahweh your God and to walk in his ways all of the days—then you shall add three more cities for yourself, more than these three.

unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult).

Versions to compare (up to 4)

3 of 4 selected

Show all 18 translations

Every available English version of this verse, each an independent rendering of the whole verse.

  • World English Bible Public Domain
    if you shall keep all this commandment to do it, which I command you this day, to love Yahweh your God, and to walk ever in his ways; then shall you add three cities more for you, besides these three:
  • Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
    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.
  • Majority Standard Bible Public Domain
    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.
  • King James Version Public Domain
    If thou shalt keep all these commandments to do them, which I command thee this day, to love the LORD thy God, and to walk ever in his ways; then shalt thou add three cities more for thee, beside these three:
  • American Standard Version (1901) Public Domain
    if thou shalt keep all this commandment to do it, which I command thee this day, to love Jehovah thy God, and to walk ever in his ways; then shalt thou add three cities more for thee, besides these three:
  • Revised Version (1885) Public Domain
    if thou shalt keep all this commandment to do it, which I command thee this day, to love the LORD thy God, and to walk ever in his ways; then shalt thou add three cities more for thee, beside these three:
  • Geneva Bible (1599) Public Domain
    (If thou keepe all these commandements to doe them, which I commaund thee this day: to wit, that thou loue the Lord thy God, and walke in his waies for euer) then shalt thou adde three cities moe for thee besides those three,
  • Douay-Rheims (1899) Public Domain
    (Yet so, if thou keep his commandments, and do the things which I command thee this day, that thou love the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways at all times) thou shalt add to thee other three cities, and shalt double the number of the three cities aforesaid:
  • Young's Literal Translation Public Domain
    when thou keepest all this command to do it, which I am commanding thee to-day, to love Jehovah thy God, and to walk in His ways all the days -- then thou hast added to thee yet three cities to these three;
  • Literal Standard Version CC BY-SA 4.0
    when you keep all this command to do it, which I am commanding you today, to love your God YHWH and to walk in His ways [for] all the days—then you have added three more cities for yourself to these three;
  • Unlocked Literal Bible CC BY-SA 4.0
    if you keep all these commandments to do them, which I am commanding you today—commandments to love Yahweh your God and to always walk in his ways, then you must add three more cities for yourself, besides these three.
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
    if you keep all these commandments to do them, which I am commanding you today—to love Yahweh your God and to walk in his ways all of the days—then you shall add three more cities for yourself, more than these three.
  • Darby Bible Public Domain
    (if thou keep all this commandment to do it, which I command thee this day, to love Jehovah thy God, and to walk in his ways continually), then shalt thou add three cities more for thyself to these three,
  • World Messianic Bible Public Domain
    and if you keep all this commandment to do it, which I command you today, to love the LORD your God, and to walk ever in his ways, then you shall add three cities more for yourselves, in addition to these three.
  • Webster's Bible Public Domain
    If thou shalt keep all these commandments to do them, which I command thee this day, to love the LORD thy God, and to walk ever in his ways; then shalt thou add three cities more for thee, besides these three:
  • Free Bible Version CC BY-SA 4.0
    and if you are careful to keep all these commandments I'm giving you today, loving the Lord your God and always following his ways, then you are to choose three additional sanctuary towns.
  • Bible in Basic English Public Domain
    If you keep and do all these orders which I give you today, loving the Lord your God and walking ever in his ways; then let three more towns, in addition to these three, be marked out for you:
  • JPS Tanakh (1917) Public Domain
    if thou shalt keep all this commandment to do it, which I command thee this day, to love the LORD thy God, and to walk ever in His ways — then shalt thou add three cities more for thee, beside these three;

Literal Standard Version (2020), Covenant Press — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). Unlocked Literal Bible (unfoldingWord) — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult). Free Bible Version, Dr. Jonathan Gallagher — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org).

Word by word

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הַמִּצְוָ֨ה
mitsvâh
H4687
“the · commandment”
Particle, Definite Article + Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute
Part of Speech
Particle + Noun
Type
Common
Gender
Feminine
Number
Singular
State
Absolute
Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H6680

TWOT: 1887b

commandment - commandment (of man) - the commandment (of God) - commandment (of code of wisdom)
  1. כִּֽי kîy H3588 “that” Conjunction
  2. תִשְׁמֹר֩ shâmar H8104 “to keep” Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular
  3. אֶת ʼêth H853 “-” Particle, Direct Object
  4. כָּל kôl H3605 “all of” Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct
  5. הַזֹּ֜את zôʼth H2063 “the · this” Particle, Definite Article + Pronoun, Demonstrative, Feminine, Singular
  6. לַעֲשֹׂתָ֗הּ ʻâsâh H6213 “to do · her” Preposition + Verb, Qal, Infinitive Construct + Suffix, Personal, 3rd Person, Feminine, Singular
  7. אֲשֶׁ֨ר ʼăsher H834 “which” Particle, Relative
  8. אָנֹכִ֣י ʼânôkîy H595 “I” Pronoun, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular
  9. מְצַוְּךָ֮ tsâvâh H6680 “commanding · you” Verb, Piel, Participle Active, Masculine, Singular, Construct + Suffix, Personal, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular
  10. הַיּוֹם֒ yôwm H3117 “the · day” Particle, Definite Article + Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute
  11. לְאַהֲבָ֞ה ʼâhab H157 “to love” Preposition + Verb, Qal, Infinitive Construct
  12. אֶת ʼêth H853 “-” Particle, Direct Object
  13. יְהוָ֧ה Yᵉhôvâh H3068 “LORD” Noun, Proper
  14. אֱלֹהֶ֛יךָ ʼĕlôhîym H430 “God(s) · your” Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct + Suffix, Personal, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular
  15. וְלָלֶ֥כֶת yâlak H3212 “and · to walk” Conjunction + Preposition + Verb, Qal, Infinitive Construct
  16. בִּדְרָכָ֖יו derek H1870 “in/at · ways · his” Preposition + Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Construct + Suffix, Personal, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular
  17. כָּל kôl H3605 “all of” Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct
  18. הַיָּמִ֑ים yôwm H3117 “the · days” Particle, Definite Article + Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute
  19. וְיָסַפְתָּ֨ yâçaph H3254 “and · to add” Conjunction + Verb, Qal, Sequential Perfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular
  20. עוֹד֙ ʻôwd H5750 “still” Adverb
  21. שָׁלֹ֣שׁ shâlôwsh H7969 “three” Adjective, Cardinal number, Feminine, Singular, Absolute
  22. עָרִ֔ים ʻîyr H5892 “cities” Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Absolute
  23. עַ֖ל ʻal H5921 “upon” Preposition
  24. הַשָּׁלֹ֥שׁ shâlôwsh H7969 “the · three” Particle, Definite Article + Adjective, Cardinal number, Feminine, Singular, Absolute
  25. הָאֵֽלֶּה ʼêl-leh H428 “the · these” Particle, Definite Article + Pronoun, Demonstrative, Common, Plural

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

27
words
22
distinct lemmas
Pentateuch
section

Grammatical profile

  • 6 verbs
  • 9 nouns
  • 2 adjectives
  • 3 pronouns
  • 2 prepositions
  • 1 conjunction
  • 1 adverb
  • 3 particles

Verb forms

  • תִשְׁמֹר֩ Qal · Imperfect
  • לַעֲשֹׂתָ֗הּ Qal · Infinitive Construct
  • מְצַוְּךָ֮ Piel · Participle Active
  • לְאַהֲבָ֞ה Qal · Infinitive Construct
  • וְלָלֶ֥כֶת Qal · Infinitive Construct
  • וְיָסַפְתָּ֨ Qal · Sequential Perfect

Repetition

Words recur within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

  • כָּל all H3605 ×2
  • הַיּוֹם֒ day H3117 ×2
  • שָׁלֹ֣שׁ three H7969 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 40 words from the Hebrew and 39 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 27 Hebrew tokens and 36 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

3

Topical passages linked to Deuteronomy 19:9 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

  • Joshua 20:7–8 They set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill-country of Naphtali, and Shechem in the hill-country of Ephraim, and Kiriath Arba (the same is Hebron) in the hill-country of Judah.
  • Deuteronomy 11:22–25 For if you shall diligently keep all this commandment which I command you, to do it, to love Yahweh your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave to him;
  • Deuteronomy 12:32 Whatever thing I command you, that shall you observe to do: you shall not add thereto, nor diminish from it.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Deuteronomy 19:9 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

כִּֽי תִשְׁמֹר֩ אֶת כָּל הַמִּצְוָ֨ה הַזֹּ֜את לַעֲשֹׂתָ֗הּ אֲשֶׁ֨ר אָנֹכִ֣י מְצַוְּךָ֮ הַיּוֹם֒ לְאַהֲבָ֞ה אֶת יְהוָ֧ה אֱלֹהֶ֛יךָ וְלָלֶ֥כֶת בִּדְרָכָ֖יו כָּל הַיָּמִ֑ים וְיָסַפְתָּ֨ לְךָ֥ עוֹד֙ שָׁלֹ֣שׁ עָרִ֔ים עַ֖ל הַשָּׁלֹ֥שׁ הָאֵֽלֶּה

if you shall keep all this commandment to do it, which I command you this day, to love Yahweh your God, and to walk ever in his ways; then shall you add three cities more for you, besides these three:

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Deuteronomy 19:9 Septuagint · lemma form

ἐάν ἀκούω ποιέω πᾶς ὁ ἐντολή οὗτος ὅς ἐγώ ἐντέλλομαι σύ σήμερον ἀγαπάω κύριος ὁ θεός σύ πορεύομαι ἐν πᾶς ὁ ὁδός αὐτός πᾶς ὁ ἡμέρα καί προςτίθημι σεαυτοῦ ἔτι τρεῖς πόλις πρός ὁ τρεῖς οὗτος

if you shall listen to do all these commands, which I charge you this day, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways continually; you shall add for yourself yet three cities to these three.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

On this verse, The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges discusses the Septuagint’s reading. Read the note in Commentary ↓

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

2

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

  1. Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)
    אֲרֵי תִטַר יָת כָּל תַּפְקֶדְתָּא הָדָא לְמֶעְבְּדַהּ דִי אֲנָא מְפַקְדָךְ יוֹמָא דֵין לְמִרְחַם יָת יְיָ אֱלָהָךְ וְלִמְהַךְ בְּאָרְחָן דְתַקְנָן קֳדָמוֹהִי כָּל יוֹמַיָא וְתוֹסֵף לָךְ עוֹד תְּלַת קִרְוִין עַל תְּלַת אִלֵין

    (no public-domain English translation for this verse)

    Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

  2. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)
    אֲרוּם תִּנְטְרוּן יַת כָּל תַּפְקֵידְתָּא הֲדָא לְמֶעֱבְדָהּ דַּאֲנָא מְפַקְדְּכוֹן יוֹמָא דֵין לְמִרְחַם יַת יְיָ אֱלָהָכוֹן וְלִמְהַךְ בְּאָרְחַן דְּתַקְנָן קֳדָמוֹי כָּל יוֹמַיָא וְתוֹסְפוּן לְכוֹן תּוּב תְּלַת קִירְוִין עַל תְּלַת אִילֵין

    then shall you keep all this commandment which today I command you to do, that thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and walk in the ways which are right before Him all days; and you shall add yet three cities to those three;

    Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Deuteronomy 19:9 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Tyndale Open Study Notes

Tyndale Open Resources

19:9 If Israel proved faithful to the covenant (19:8), God would grant the nation even more territory, so much so that three additional cities of refuge would be needed. Sadly, this need never arose because of Israel’s disobedience to the Lord.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 9. Shalt thou add three cities more] This was afterwards found necessary, and accordingly six cities were appointed, three on either side Jordan. See Jos 21:1-3, c. In imitation of these cities of refuge the heathens had their asyla, and the Catholics their privileged altars. See Clarke on Ex 21:13 "Ex 21:14"; and "Nu 35:11", &c.

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

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

9. A parenthesis, being the condition of the promise in Deu_19:8.

if thou shalt keep all this commandment, etc.] LXX B, etc., hear all these commandments. Cullen, p. 141, takes this passage as an actual quotation from Deu_11:22. On the formula, keep … to do, see Deu_4:6, Deu_5:1.

to love … in his ways) These phrases (cp. Deu_6:5, Deu_10:12) some LXX Codd. and Luc. omit.

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.

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.

John Gill's Exposition

That innocent blood be not shed,.... As it would be if such a slayer as before described was killed by the avenger of blood, before he could get to one of these cities of refuge, or supposing that they had not bean appointed, or a sufficient number of them:

which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance; to be enjoyed by them and their children after them, provided they did not defile it by their sins, but observed the commands of the Lord to obey them and

so blood be upon thee; the guilt of innocent blood crying for vengeance, as would be the case if such a man's blood was shed as before described; 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.

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

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

If thou shalt keep all these commandments - But the Jewish writers themselves own, that the condition not being performed, the promise of enlarging their coast was not fulfilled, so that there was no need for three more cities of refuge. Yet the holy, blessed God, say they, did not command it in vain, for in the day's of Messiah the Prince, they shall be added. They expect it in the letter: but we know, it has in Christ its spiritual accomplishment. For the borders of the Gospel- Israel are inlarged according to the promise: and in the Lord our righteousness, refuge is provided for all that by faith fly to him.

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

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

ויספת לך עוד שלש THEN THOU SHALT ADD THREE [CITIES] MORE FOR THEE — Thus you have nine altogether: the three on the east side of the Jordan, the three in the land of Canaan and three more in the future to come when God will enlarge thy territory (Sifrei Devarim 185:1).

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.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Deuteronomy, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 27 words (22 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is mitsvâh (“commandment”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

  1. What does “commandment” (mitsvâh) contribute to the verse as a whole?
  2. Joshua 20:7–8 shares this passage’s theme. How do the two illuminate each other?
  3. “all” occurs 2× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
  4. These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
  5. The verb «תִשְׁמֹר֩» is Qal Imperfect. How does its form color the action?
  6. Reading how Tyndale Open Study Notes and Adam Clarke's Commentary read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

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Shown beneath each verse's original-language words.

Old Testament
Old Testament edition

Read the OT as the Masoretic Hebrew (MT) or the Greek Septuagint (LXX).

English shown for the Greek Septuagint (in the Hebrew ↔ Greek comparison).

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