¹sn This section has two main parts, the Levitical cities (vv. 1-8) and the Cities of Refuge (vv. 9-34).
²map For location see Map5-B2; Map6-E1; Map7-E1; Map8-E3; Map10-A2; Map11-A1.
³tn The verb is the perfect tense with vav consecutive: “command…and they will give,” or “that they give.”
⁴tn Heb “one thousand cubits.” The standard cubit in the OT is assumed by most authorities to be about eighteen inches (45 cm) in length, so this would be a distance of 1,500 feet or 500 yards (675 meters).
⁵tn The verb is the Qal perfect of madad (ddm), “to measure.” With its vav consecutive it carries the same instructional force as the imperfect.
⁶tn Heb “two thousand cubits” (also three more times in this verse). This would be a distance of 3,000 feet or 1,000 yards (1,350 meters).
⁷sn The precise nature of the layout described here is not altogether clear. V. 4 speaks of the distance from the wall as being 500 yards; v. 5, however, describes measurements of 1,000 yards. Various proposals have been made in order to harmonize vv. 4 and 5. P. J. Budd makes the following suggestion: “It may be best to assume that the cubits of the Levitical pasture lands are cubit frontages of land—in otther words on each side of the city there was a block of land with a frontage of two thousand cubits (v 5), and a depth of 1000 cubits (v 4).” See P. J. Budd, Numbers (WBC 5), 376.
⁸tn The “manslayer” is the verb “to kill” in a participial form, providing the subject of the clause. The verb means “to kill”; it can mean accidental killing, premeditated killing, or capital punishment. The clause uses the infinitive to express purpose or result: “to flee there the manslayer,” means “so that the manslayer may flee there.”
⁹tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
¹⁰tn the verb is the preterite of “die.” The sentence has :“if…he strikes him and he dies.” The vav consecutive is showing the natural result of the blow.
¹¹tn The participle go’el (la@G{) is the one who protects the family by seeking vengeance for a crime. This is the same verb used for levirate marriages and other related customs.
¹²tn The Hebrew text is more vivid: “by lying in wait.”
¹³tn Heb “in it.”
¹⁴tn Heb “he.”
¹⁵tn Heb “ at the mouth of”; the metonymy stresses it is at their report.
¹⁶tn The verb should be given the nuance of imperfect of potentiality.
¹⁷tn The Greek and the Syriac have “high priest.”