Deuteronomy 19

CHAPTER 19

Statutes About Cities of Refuge

¹“^aWhen Yahweh your God cuts off the nations, whose land Yahweh your God gives you, and you dispossess them and settle in their cities and in their houses,

^2ayou shall set apart three cities for yourself in the midst of your land, which Yahweh your God gives you to ¹possess.

³“You shall prepare the ¹roads for yourself, and divide into three parts the territory of your land which Yahweh your God will give you to inherit, ²so that any manslayer may flee there.

⁴“^aNow this is the case of the manslayer who may flee there and live: when he strikes down his friend ¹without premeditation, ²not hating him previously—

⁵as when a man goes into the forest with his friend to cut wood, and his hand ¹swings the axe to cut down the tree, and the iron head slips off the ²handle and ³strikes his friend so that he dies—he may flee to one of these cities and live;

⁶lest the avenger of blood pursue the manslayer when his heart is ¹angry, and overtake him, because the way is long, and ²strike down his life, though he was not deserving of death, since he had not hated him previously.

⁷“Therefore, I am commanding you, saying, ‘You shall set apart three cities for yourself.’

⁸“Now if Yahweh your God ^aenlarges your territory, just as He has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land which He ¹promised to give to your fathers—

⁹if you ¹be careful to do all this commandment which I am commanding you today, ^ato love Yahweh your God and to walk in His ways all your days—^bthen you shall add three more cities for yourself, besides these three.

¹⁰“So innocent blood will not be shed in the midst of your land which Yahweh your God gives you as an inheritance, and ^abloodguiltiness be on you.

¹¹“But ^aif there is a man who hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and rises up against him and strikes down ¹his life so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities,

¹²then the elders of his city shall send and take him from there and give him over into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die.

¹³“^1aYou shall not pity him, but ^byou shall purge the blood of the innocent from Israel, that it may go well with you.

Statutes About Boundaries and Witnesses

¹⁴“^aYou shall not move your neighbor’s boundary mark, which the ancestors have set, in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land that Yahweh your God gives you to ¹possess.

¹⁵“^aA single witness shall not rise up against a man on account of any iniquity or any sin ¹which he has committed; at the mouth of two or three witnesses a matter shall be established.

¹⁶“^aIf a malicious witness rises up against a man to ¹accuse him of ²wrongdoing,

¹⁷then both the men who have the dispute shall stand ^abefore Yahweh, before the priests and the judges who will be in office in those days.

¹⁸“And the judges ^ashall inquire thoroughly, and behold, if the witness is a false witness and he has ¹accused his brother falsely,

¹⁹then ^ayou shall do to him just as he had intended to do to his brother. Thus you shall purge the evil from among you.

²⁰“^aAnd the rest will hear and be afraid and will never again do such an evil thing among you.

²¹“Thus ^ayour eye shall not show pity: ^blife for life, ^ceye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.