three on the east side of the Jordan River and three on the west in the land of Canaan.
Parallel translations
- WEB You shall give three cities beyond the Jordan, and you shall give three cities in the land of Canaan. They shall be cities of refuge.
- KJV Ye shall give three cities on this side Jordan, and three cities shall ye give in the land of Canaan, which shall be cities of refuge.
- BSB Select three cities across the Jordan and three in the land of Canaan as cities of refuge.
- NKJV You shall appoint three cities on this side of the Jordan, and three cities you shall appoint in the land of Canaan, which will be cities of refuge.
- NASB You shall provide three cities across the Jordan, and three cities in the land of Canaan; they are to be cities of refuge.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Three cities of refuge are to be set east of the Jordan and three in Canaan. The cities are distributed on both sides of the river.
Overview
Placing three cities on each side ensured that both the Transjordan tribes and those in Canaan proper had ready access to refuge. This even distribution reflected God's equal concern for all His people regardless of where they settled. The arrangement, fulfilled in Joshua 20, made mercy and justice reachable throughout the land.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- Deut 19:8–10If Yahweh your God enlarges your border, as he has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land which he promised to give to your fathers;
- Deut 4:41–43Then Moses set apart three cities beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise;
- Josh 20:7–9They set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath Arba (also called Hebron) in the hill country of Judah.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
In the wilderness Christ is the water from the rock, the bronze serpent lifted up that the dying might look and live (John 3:14), and the star and scepter that Balaam saw rising out of Jacob.
How Numbers 35:14 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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