Deuteronomy 3:5

Deu 3:5 All these cities [were] fenced with high walls, gates, and bars; beside unwalled towns a great many.

Ver. 5. All those cities.] And they were threescore. How well might Moses have been styled πτολιπορθης? or, as King Demetrius was, Poliorcetes, the city taker?

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.

As villages and small towns.

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

5. the unwalled towns] Heb. towns of the Perazi, or country-folk; perazôth, Eze_38:11, are open, rural places in contrast to fenced cities.

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.

All these cities were fenced with high walls, gates, and bars,.... That is, all the cities in the kingdom of Bashan; and though they were, it hindered not their falling into the hands of the Israelites; and this might serve to encourage them against those fears they were possessed of by the spies, with respect to the cities in the land of Canaan; see Num 13:28.

besides unwalled towns a great many; small towns and villages adjacent to the several cities, as is common.

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

Gates, and bars - literally, “Double gates and a bar.” The stone doors of Bashan, their height pointing to a race of great stature, and the numerous cities (deserted) exist to illustrate the statements of these verses.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Walls. Tacitus remarks, that "a great part of Judea is covered with villages, though towns may likewise be found in the country. (Hist. v. 8.) See 3 Kings iv. 13. Septuagint, "besides the towns of Pherezites, which were very numerous." (Calmet) --- The spies had not travelled in this county, when they gave an account of the walled towns being as high as heaven. But Moses here informs us, that the cities on the east side of the Jordan were not much inferior to those on the west, and the land was infested also with giants, ver. 13. (Haydock)

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).

High walls, gates, and bars; which may encourage you in your attempt upon Canaan, notwithstanding the fenced cities which the spies told you of, and you must expect to find.

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

5. These cities were fenced — The ruins of these cities are seen to-day. Porter thus describes the region of the captured cities: “The hills of Bashan were close in front, their summits clothed with oak forests and their sides studded with old towns. As we ascended them the rock fields of the Lejah were spread out on the right, and there too the ancient cities were thickly planted. Not less than thirty of the threescore cities of Argob were in view at one time on that day, their black houses and ruins half concealed by the black rocks amid which they are built, and their massive towers rising up here and there like the ‘keeps’ of old Norman fortresses.”

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

All these cities were fenced with high walls, gates, and bars; literally, double gates and a bar. These cities, with their marvelous erections, are believed to be still existing in the Hauran. Over that district tire strewn a multitude of towns of various sizes, all constructed after the same remarkable fashion. "The streets are perfect, the walls perfect, and, what seems more astonish. tug, the stone doors are still hanging on their hinges, so little impression has been made during these many centuries on the hard and durable stone of which they are built" (Graham, Cambridge Essays, p. 160). These doors are "formed of slabs of stone, opening on pivots which are projecting parts of the stone itself, and working in sockets in the lintel and threshold." Some of these gates are large enough to admit of a camel passing through them, and the doors are of proportionate dimensions, some of the stones of which they are formed being eighteen inches in thickness. The roofs also are formed of huge stone slabs resting on the massive walls. All betoken the workmanship of a race endowed with powers far exceeding those of ordinary men; and give credibility to the supposition that we have in them the dwellings of the giant race that occupied that district before it was invaded by the Israelites. "We could not help," says Mr. Graham, "being impressed with the belief that had we never known anything of the early portion of Scripture history before visiting this country, we should have been forced to the conclusion that its original inhabitants, the people who had constructed those cities, were not only a powerful and mighty nation, but individuals of greater strength than ourselves."

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

General Information:

Moses continues reminding the people of Israel of what happened in the past.

These were all cities fortified with

"These were all cities protected by"

besides very many

"in addition to very many" or "not including very many"

Sihon

This is the name of a king. See how you translated this in Deuteronomy 1:4. (See: How to Translate Names)

Heshbon

This is the name of a city. See how you translated this in Deuteronomy 1:4. (See: How to Translate Names)

completely destroying every city

"killing all the people who lived in every city"

translationWords

gate

king

cow

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

מערי הפרזי [BESIDES] UNWALLED CITIES — unconfined and open, i.e. without a wall. Similar is, (Zechariah 2:8) “As open spaces (פרזות) shall Jerusalem be inhabited”.

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.