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,

After Yahweh our God has gotten rid of the people-groups from the land that he is giving to you, and after you have expelled them from their cities and you start to live 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 must divide into three parts the land that he is giving to you. Then choose a city in each part. You must make good roads [in order that people can get to those cities easily]. Someone who kills another person can escape to one of those cities [to be safe/protected].

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.

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:

“This is the rule about someone who has killed another person. If someone (accidentally/without planning to) kills another person who was not his enemy, he may escape to one of those cities and be safe/protected there.

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.

For example, if two men go into the forest to cut some wood, if the axe head comes off the handle while one of them is chopping down a tree and the axe head strikes and kills the other man, the man [who was using the axe] will be allowed to run to one of those cities and be safe there, [because the people of that city will protect him].

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.

Because he accidentally killed someone, and because the man was not his enemy, he can try to run to one of those cities. If there were only one city, it may be a long distance to that city. Then if the relative of the man who was killed [MTY], the man who is supposed/expected to get revenge, is very angry, he may be able to catch the other person before he arrives at that city.

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

[To prevent that from happening], you must choose three cities, not only one, [in order that someone can get to one of those cities quickly].

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,

“If you do everything that I am today commanding you to do, and if you love Yahweh our God, and if you conduct your lives as he wants you to do, Yahweh our God will give you much more land than you will have when you first occupy it, which is what he promised to do. He will give you all the land which he promised your ancestors that he would give to you. When he gives you that land, you must select three more cities [to which people may escape].

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.

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.

Do this in order that people who (are innocent/have killed someone else without planning to) will not die, and you will not be guilty for [allowing] them to be executed, in the land that Yahweh is giving to you.

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 suppose someone hates his enemy and hides and waits for that person [to come along the road]. Then [when he passes by, suddenly] he attacks him and murders him. If the attacker flees to one of those cities [to be protected there],

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

the elders of the city [where the murdered man lived must not protect the attacker. They]. must send someone to the city to which the other man escaped, and bring him to [MTY] the relative who is supposed/expected to get revenge, so that he may execute that man.

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.

You must not pity those who murder other people! Instead, you must execute them, in order that the people in the land of Israel will not murder [MTY] innocent people, and in order that things will go well for 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.

“[When you are living] in the land that Yahweh our God is giving to you, do not move the markers of your neighbors’ property boundaries which were placed there long ago.”

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.

“If someone is accused of committing a crime, one (witness/person who says, ‘I saw him do it’) is not enough. There must be at least two (witnesses/people who say, ‘We saw him do it’). [If there is only one witness], the judge must not believe that what he says is true.

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

“If someone tries to do wrong to another person by falsely accusing 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.

both of them must go to the place where the people worship, to [talk to] the priests and judges who are serving at that time.

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

The judges must (investigate the case carefully/try to find out which one is telling the truth). If [the judges determine that] one of them has accused the other falsely,

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

that person must be punished in the same way that the other one would have been punished [if the judge decided that he (was guilty/had done what is wrong)]. By punishing such people, you will get rid of this evil practice among you.

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

And/Because when that person is punished, everyone will hear what has happened, and they will be afraid, and no one will dare to act that way any more.

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

You must not pity people who are punished like that. The rule should be that a person who has murdered someone else must be executed; one of a person’s eyes must be gouged out if he has gouged out someone else’s eye, one tooth of a person who has knocked out the tooth of another person must be knocked out; one hand of a person who has cut off the hand of another person must likewise be cut off; one foot of a person who has cut off the foot of another person must also be cut off.”