gate of the city] 1: e. The place of Judicature, which in those dayes used to be at the city gates. shall declare his cause] 1: e. The manner of his fact, and what moved him to flee thither. of the elders] That is, the magistrates and judges in that place. shall take him] To wit, after he hath cleared himself of wilfull murther. See Numbers 35:22-23. Deuteronomy 19:4-5.