Deuteronomy 3:5
New International Version
All these cities were fortified with high walls and with gates and bars, and there were also a great many unwalled villages.

New Living Translation
These towns were all fortified with high walls and barred gates. We also took many unwalled villages at the same time.

English Standard Version
All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates, and bars, besides very many unwalled villages.

Berean Standard Bible
All these cities were fortified with high walls and gates and bars, and there were many more unwalled villages.

King James Bible
All these cities were fenced with high walls, gates, and bars; beside unwalled towns a great many.

New King James Version
All these cities were fortified with high walls, gates, and bars, besides a great many rural towns.

New American Standard Bible
All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates, and bars, besides a great many unwalled towns.

NASB 1995
“All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates and bars, besides a great many unwalled towns.

NASB 1977
“All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates and bars, besides a great many unwalled towns.

Legacy Standard Bible
All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates and bars, besides a great many unwalled towns.

Amplified Bible
All these cities were fortified and unassailable with their high walls, gates, and bars; in addition, [there were] a very great number of unwalled villages.

Christian Standard Bible
All these were fortified with high walls, gates, and bars, besides a large number of rural villages.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
All these were fortified with high walls, gates, and bars, besides a large number of rural villages.

American Standard Version
All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates, and bars; besides the unwalled towns a great many.

English Revised Version
All these were cities fenced with high walls, gates, and bars; beside the unwalled towns a great many.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
All of these cities were fortified with high walls and double-door gates with bars across the gates. We also captured a large number of unwalled villages.

Good News Translation
All these towns were fortified with high walls, gates, and bars to lock the gates, and there were also many villages without walls.

International Standard Version
All of these cities were fortified with high walls, gates, and bars. Furthermore, there were very many unwalled regions.

Majority Standard Bible
All these cities were fortified with high walls and gates and bars, and there were many more unwalled villages.

NET Bible
All of these cities were fortified by high walls, gates, and locking bars; in addition there were a great many open villages.

New Heart English Bible
All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates, and bars; besides the unwalled towns a great many.

Webster's Bible Translation
All these cities were fortified with high walls, gates, and bars; besides unwalled towns a great number.

World English Bible
All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates, and bars, in addition to a great many villages without walls.
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
All these [are] cities fortified with high walls, double gates, and bar, apart from very many cities of the open place;

Young's Literal Translation
All these are cities fenced with high walls, two-leaved doors and bar, apart from cities of villages very many;

Smith's Literal Translation
All these cities fortified with high walls, doors and bars; besides of cities of the open country exceedingly many.
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
All the cities were fenced with very high walls, and with gates and bars, be- sides innumerable towns that had no walls.

Catholic Public Domain Version
All the cities were fortified with very high walls, and with gates and bars, in addition to innumerable villages which had no walls.

New American Bible
all these cities were fortified with high walls and gates and bars—besides a great number of unwalled towns.

New Revised Standard Version
All these were fortress towns with high walls, double gates, and bars, besides a great many villages.
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
All these cities were fenced with high walls, gates, and bars; besides the suburban towns a great many.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
All these cities whose walls are fortified and their gates and their bars raised, apart from very many towns of open spaces.
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
All these were fortified cities, with high walls, gates, and bars; beside the unwalled towns a great many.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
all strong cities, lofty walls, gates and bars; besides the very many cities of the Pherezites.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Defeat of King Og
4At that time we captured all sixty of his cities. There was not a single city we failed to take—the entire region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. 5All these cities were fortified with high walls and gates and bars, and there were many more unwalled villages. 6We devoted them to destruction, as we had done to Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women, and children of every city.…

Cross References
Joshua 11:12
Joshua captured all these kings and their cities and put them to the sword. He devoted them to destruction, as Moses the LORD’s servant had commanded.

Joshua 10:20
So Joshua and the Israelites continued to inflict a terrible slaughter until they had finished them off, and the remaining survivors retreated to the fortified cities.

2 Chronicles 8:5
He rebuilt Upper and Lower Beth-horon as fortified cities with walls, gates, and bars,

1 Kings 9:19
as well as all the store cities that Solomon had for his chariots and horses—whatever he desired to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and throughout the land of his dominion.

Joshua 12:1-24
Now these are the kings of the land whom the Israelites struck down and whose lands they took beyond the Jordan to the east, from the Arnon Valley to Mount Hermon, including all the Arabah eastward: / Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon. He ruled from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along the middle of the valley, up to the Jabbok River (the border of the Ammonites), that is, half of Gilead, / as well as the Arabah east of the Sea of Chinnereth to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea), eastward through Beth-jeshimoth, and southward below the slopes of Pisgah. ...

Joshua 13:10
and all the cities of Sihon king of the Amorites who reigned in Heshbon, as far as the border of the Ammonites;

Joshua 21:42
Each of these cities had its own surrounding pasturelands; this was true for all the cities.

1 Samuel 6:18
The number of gold rats also corresponded to the number of Philistine cities belonging to the five rulers—the fortified cities and their outlying villages. And the large rock on which they placed the ark of the LORD stands to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh.

2 Samuel 8:6
Then he placed garrisons in Aram of Damascus, and the Arameans became subject to David and brought him tribute. So the LORD made David victorious wherever he went.

1 Chronicles 18:1
Some time later, David defeated the Philistines, subdued them, and took Gath and its villages from the hand of the Philistines.

2 Chronicles 17:2
He stationed troops in every fortified city of Judah and put garrisons in the land of Judah and in the cities of Ephraim that his father Asa had captured.

Jeremiah 34:7
as the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and the remaining cities of Judah—against Lachish and Azekah. For these were the only fortified cities remaining in Judah.

Matthew 11:20-24
Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of His miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. / “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. / But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. ...

Luke 10:13-15
Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. / But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. / And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to heaven? No, you will be brought down to Hades!

Acts 13:19
And having vanquished seven nations in Canaan, He gave their land to His people as an inheritance.


Treasury of Scripture

All these cities were fenced with high walls, gates, and bars; beside unwalled towns a great many.

Deuteronomy 1:28
Whither shall we go up? our brethren have discouraged our heart, saying, The people is greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims there.

Numbers 13:28
Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there.

Hebrews 11:30
By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days.

Jump to Previous
Addition Apart Bars Besides Cities Doors High Locks Round Towns Two-Leaved Unwalled Villages Walls
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Addition Apart Bars Besides Cities Doors High Locks Round Towns Two-Leaved Unwalled Villages Walls
Deuteronomy 3
1. The conquest of Og, king of Bashan
11. This size of his bed
12. The distribution of his lands to the two tribes and half
23. Moses prays to enter into the land
26. He is permitted to see it














All these cities
This phrase refers to the cities of Bashan, a region east of the Jordan River, which the Israelites conquered under Moses' leadership. The Hebrew word for "cities" is "עָרִים" (arim), indicating not just urban centers but also places of significant strategic and economic importance. Historically, these cities were part of the Amorite kingdom, and their conquest demonstrated God's faithfulness in delivering the Promised Land to Israel.

were fortified
The Hebrew root "בָּצַר" (batsar) means to make inaccessible or to enclose. This suggests that these cities were well-defended and strategically important. The fortification of cities was a common practice in ancient Near Eastern cultures, serving as a defense against invaders. The fact that these cities were fortified highlights the miraculous nature of Israel's victory, emphasizing God's power and provision.

with high walls
The phrase "high walls" underscores the formidable nature of these cities. In ancient times, high walls were a primary defense mechanism, symbolizing strength and security. The Hebrew word "גָּבוֹהַּ" (gavoah) for "high" conveys not just physical height but also the imposing nature of these defenses. The Israelites' ability to conquer such cities is a testament to divine intervention.

and gates and bars
Gates were crucial for controlling access to a city, and bars provided additional security. The Hebrew word for "gates" is "שַׁעַר" (sha'ar), and "bars" is "בְּרִיחַ" (beriach). These elements of city defense illustrate the comprehensive security measures in place, which would have been daunting to any attacking force. The overcoming of such defenses by the Israelites highlights the theme of God's sovereignty and the fulfillment of His promises.

besides a great many unwalled villages
This phrase contrasts the fortified cities with the more vulnerable unwalled villages. The Hebrew word for "villages" is "פְּרָזוֹת" (perazot), indicating open or rural settlements. These villages, while numerous, lacked the defenses of the cities, making them easier targets. The mention of both fortified cities and unwalled villages demonstrates the thoroughness of Israel's conquest and God's provision of the land in its entirety.

Verse 5. - 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." Ver. 6. - (See Deuteronomy 2:34.)

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
All
כָּל־ (kāl-)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 3605: The whole, all, any, every

these
אֵ֜לֶּה (’êl·leh)
Pronoun - common plural
Strong's 428: These, those

cities
עָרִ֧ים (‘ā·rîm)
Noun - feminine plural
Strong's 5892: Excitement

were fortified
בְּצֻר֛וֹת (bə·ṣu·rō·wṯ)
Adjective - feminine plural
Strong's 1219: To cut off, make inaccessible, enclose

with high
גְבֹהָ֖ה (ḡə·ḇō·hāh)
Adjective - feminine singular
Strong's 1364: Elevated, powerful, arrogant

walls
חוֹמָ֥ה (ḥō·w·māh)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 2346: A wall of protection

and gates
דְּלָתַ֣יִם (də·lā·ṯa·yim)
Noun - fd
Strong's 1817: Something swinging, the valve of a, door

and bars,
וּבְרִ֑יחַ (ū·ḇə·rî·aḥ)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 1280: A bolt

and there were
לְבַ֛ד (lə·ḇaḏ)
Preposition-l | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 905: Separation, a part of the body, branch of a, tree, bar for, carrying, chief of

many more
הַרְבֵּ֥ה (har·bêh)
Verb - Hifil - Infinitive absolute
Strong's 7235: To be or become much, many or great

unwalled villages.
הַפְּרָזִ֖י (hap·pə·rā·zî)
Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 6521: Hamlet dweller


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OT Law: Deuteronomy 3:5 All these were cities fortified with high (Deut. De Du)
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