Deuteronomy 19

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

“When the Lord your God will have destroyed the nations, whose land he will deliver to you, and when you possess it and live in its cities and buildings,

2 thou shalt separate for thyself three cities in the midst of thy land, which the Lord thy God gives thee.

you shall separate for yourselves three cities in the midst of the land, which the Lord will give to you as a possession,

3 Take a survey of thy way, and thou shalt divide the coasts of thy land, which the Lord thy God apportions to thee, into three parts, and there shall be there a refuge for every manslayer.

paving the road carefully. And you shall divide the entire province of your land equally into three parts, so that he who is forced to flee because of manslaughter may have a place nearby to which he may be able to escape.

4 And this shall be the ordinance of the manslayer, who shall flee thither, and shall live, whosoever shall have smitten his neighbour ignorantly, whereas he hated him not in times past.

This shall be the law of the killer who flees, whose life is to be saved. Whoever strikes down his neighbor unwillingly, and who has been proven to have had no hatred against him yesterday and the day before,

5 And whosoever shall enter with his neighbour 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 neighbour, and he should die, he shall flee to one of these cities, and live.

such that he had gone with him into the forest simply to cut wood, and in cutting down the tree, the axe slipped from his hand, or the iron slipped from the handle, and it struck his friend and killed him: he shall flee to one of the cities stated above, and he shall live.

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

Otherwise, perhaps the near relative of him whose blood was shed, impelled by his grief, might pursue and apprehend him, unless the way is too long, and he might strike down the life of him who is not guilty unto death, since he had demonstrated that he had no prior hatred against him who was slain.

7 Therefore I charge thee, saying, Thou shalt separate for thy self three cities.

For this reason, I instruct you to separate three cities at equal distance from one another.

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

And when the Lord your God will have enlarged your borders, just as he swore to your fathers, and when he will have given to you all the land that he has promised to them,

9 if thou shalt hearken to do all these commands, which I charge thee this day, to love the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways continually; thou shalt add for thyself yet three cities to these three.

(but this is only so if you will keep his commandments and do the things which I instruct to you this day, so that you love the Lord your God, and walk in his ways at all times) you shall add for yourselves three other cities, and so you shall double the number of the three cities stated above.

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

So may innocent blood not be shed in the midst of the land which the Lord your God will give you to possess, lest you be guilty of blood.

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

But if anyone, having hatred for his neighbor, will have lain in ambush for his life, and, rising up, will have struck him, and he will have died, and if he will have fled to one of the cities stated above,

12 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.

the elders of his city shall send, and they shall take him from the place of refuge, and they shall deliver him into the hand of the relative of him whose blood was shed, and he shall die.

13 Thine eye shall not spare him; so shalt thou purge innocent blood from Israel, and it shall be well with thee.

You shall not take pity on him, and so shall you take away the blood of the innocent from Israel, so that it may be well with you.

14 Thou shalt not move the landmarks of thy neighbour, which thy fathers set in the inheritance, in which thou hast obtained a share in the land, which the Lord thy God gives thee to inherit.

You shall not take up or move the landmark of your neighbor, which those before you have placed, in your possession that the Lord your God will give to you, in the land you will receive to possess.

15 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.

One witness shall not stand against another, no matter what the sin or outrage may be. For every word shall stand by the mouth of two or three witnesses.

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

If a lying witness will have stood against a man, accusing him of a transgression,

17 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.

both of those whose case it is shall stand before the Lord in the sight of the priests and the judges who shall be in those days.

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

And when, after a very diligent examination, they will have found that the false witness had told a lie against his brother,

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

they shall render to him just as he intended to do to his brother. And so shall you take away the evil from your midst.

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

Then the others, upon hearing this, will be afraid, and they will by no means dare to do such things.

21 Thine eye shall not spare him: [thou shalt exact] life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

You shall not take pity on him. Instead, you shall require a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot.”