This verse gives the reason why there had to be three towns of refuge; if there were only one, it might be so far away from where an accidental death had occurred that the dead man’s relative would overtake the killer before he reached the town of refuge. Good News Translation emphasizes the need for three cities over one, with “If there were only one city, the distance to it might be too great, ….”

The avenger of blood: traditionally this has been taken to mean the dead man’s nearest relative, whose duty it would be to avenge the death. But some believe that the designated avenger would be named by the local authorities. There is not enough evidence to determine which is correct; it is recommended that the idea of a relative be the one expressed by the translation. Good News Translation has “the relative who is responsible to take revenge for the killing,” and Revised English Bible translates “the dead man’s next-of-kin on whom lies the duty of vengeance” (see Num 25.12). “Avenge” or “revenge” means to “pay back” or “punish” someone in a way that fits the crime. So avenger of blood may also be expressed as “the relative who is responsible for punishing the murderer [or, killer].”

In hot anger: in Hebrew this is a verbal form meaning “to boil over.” Alternative ways of expressing this are “be very angry” or “have a very hot heart,” and so on.

Pursue the manslayer and overtake him, because the way is long: the meaning is clear enough, but the order of the clauses may be a problem. Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje has “If there were only one city of refuge, it might be so far away that the relative responsible for avenging the death might have time to catch the man who killed his friend.” (In Portuguese “his friend” is not ambiguous; it is the “friend” of the killer.)

Wound him mortally: more simply, “kill him.”

The man did not deserve to die: this is why the three towns of refuge are needed. Good News Translation translates this as “an innocent man.” In some languages this will be expressed as “a pure [or, clean] person.”

He was not at enmity with his neighbor in time past: as in verse 4.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .