Deuteronomy 19

1 When the LORD your God has cut off the nations whose land He is giving you, and when you have driven them out and settled in their cities and houses,

And when the Lord your God shall have destroyed the nations, which God gives you, [even] the land, and you shall inherit them, and dwell in their cities, and in their houses,

2 then you are to set apart for yourselves three cities within the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.

you shall separate for yourself three cities in the midst of your land, which the Lord your God gives you.

3 You are to build roads for yourselves and divide into three regions the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, so that any manslayer can flee to these cities.

Take a survey of your way, and you shall divide the coasts of your land, which the Lord your God apportions to you, into three parts, and there shall be there a refuge for every manslayer.

4 Now this is the situation regarding the manslayer who flees to one of these cities to save his life, having killed his neighbor accidentally, without intending to harm him:

And this shall be the ordinance of the manslayer, who shall flee there, and shall live, whoever shall have struck his neighbor ignorantly, whereas he hated him not in times past.

5 If he goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut timber and swings his axe to chop down a tree, but the blade flies off the handle and strikes and kills his neighbor, he may flee to one of these cities to save his life.

And whoever shall enter with his neighbor into the thicket, to gather wood, if the hand of him that cuts wood with the axe should be violently shaken, and the axe head falling off from the handle should light on his neighbor, and he should die, he shall flee to one of these cities, and live.

6 Otherwise, the avenger of blood might pursue the manslayer in a rage, overtake him if the distance is great, and strike him dead though he did not deserve to die, since he did not intend any harm.

Lest the avenger of blood pursue after the slayer, because his heart is hot, and overtake him, if the way be too long, and kill him, though there is to this man no sentence of death, because he hated him not in time past.

7 This is why I am commanding you to set apart for yourselves three cities.

Therefore I charge you, saying, You shall separate for your self three cities.

8 And if the LORD your God enlarges your territory, as He swore to your fathers, and gives you all the land He promised them,

And if the Lord shall enlarge your borders, as he sware to your fathers, and the Lord shall give to you all the land which he said he would give to your fathers;

9 and if you carefully keep all these commandments I am giving you today, loving the LORD your God and walking in His ways at all times, then you are to add three more cities to these three.

if you shall listen to do all these commands, which I charge you this day, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways continually; you shall add for yourself yet three cities to these three.

10 Thus innocent blood will not be shed in the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, so that you will not be guilty of bloodshed.

So innocent blood shall not be spilt in the land, which the Lord your God gives you to inherit, and there shall not be in you one guilty of blood.

11 If, however, a man hates his neighbor and lies in wait, attacks him and kills him, and then flees to one of these cities,

But if there should be in you a man hating his neighbor, and he should lay wait for him, and rise up against him, and strike him, that he die, and he should flee to one of these cities,

12 the elders of his city must send for him, bring him back, and hand him over to the avenger of blood to die.

then shall the elders of his city send, and take him thence, and they shall deliver him into the hands of the avengers of blood, and he shall die.

13 You must show him no pity. You are to purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, that it may go well with you.

Your eye shall not spare him; so shall you purge innocent blood from Israel, and it shall be well with you.

14 You must not move your neighbor’s boundary marker, which was set up by your ancestors to mark the inheritance you shall receive in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.

You shall not move the landmarks of your neighbor, which your fathers set in the inheritance, in which you have obtained a share in the land, which the Lord your God gives you to inherit.

15 A lone witness is not sufficient to establish any wrongdoing or sin against a man, regardless of what offense he may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.

One witness shall not stand to testify against a man for any iniquity, or for any fault, or for any sin which he may commit; by the mouth of two witnesses, or by the mouth of three witnesses, shall every word be established.

16 If a false witness testifies against someone, accusing him of a crime,

And if an unjust witness rise up against a man, alleging iniquity against him;

17 both parties to the dispute must stand in the presence of the LORD, before the priests and judges who are in office at that time.

then shall the two men between whom the controversy is, stand before the Lord, and before the priests, and before the judges, who may be in those days.

18 The judges shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is proven to be a liar who has falsely accused his brother,

And the judges shall make diligent inquiry, and, behold, [if] and unjust witness has borne unjust testimony; [and] has stood up against his brother;

19 you must do to him as he intended to do to his brother. So you must purge the evil from among you.

then shall you do to him as he wickedly devised to do against his brother, and you shall remove the evil from yourselves.

20 Then the rest of the people will hear and be afraid, and they will never again do anything so evil among you.

And the rest shall hear and fear, and do no more according to this evil thing in the midst of you.

21 You must show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot.

Your eye shall not spare him: [you shall exact] life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.