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 shall cut off the nations, whose land the LORD your God gives you, and you succeed them, and dwell in their cities, and in their houses;

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

you shall set apart three cities for you in the midst of your land, which the LORD your God gives you to possess it.

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.

You shall prepare you the way, and divide the borders of your land, which the LORD your God causes you to inherit, into three parts, that every manslayer may flee there.

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 is the case of the manslayer, that shall flee there and live: whoever kills his neighbor unawares, and did not hate him in time past;

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.

as when a man goes into the forest with his neighbor to chop wood, and his hand fetches a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the head slips from the handle, and lights on his neighbor, so that he dies; he shall flee to one of these cities and 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.

lest the avenger of blood pursue the manslayer, while his heart is hot, and overtake him, because the way is long, and strike him mortally; whereas he was not worthy of death, inasmuch as he did not hate him in time past.

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

Therefore I command you, saying, You shall set apart three cities for yourselves.

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;

If the LORD your God enlarges your border, as he has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land which he promised to give to your fathers;

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.

if you keep all this commandment to do it, which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to walk ever in his ways; then you shall add three cities more for yourselves, besides these three:

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.

that innocent blood not be shed in the midst of your land, which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance, and so blood be on you.

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 any man hates his neighbor, and lies in wait for him, and rises up against him, and strikes him mortally so that he dies, and he flees into one of these cities;

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.

then the elders of his city shall send and bring him there, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die.

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

Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall put away the innocent blood from Israel, that it may go 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 remove your neighbor's landmark, which they of old time have set, in your inheritance which you shall inherit, in the land that the LORD your God gives you to possess it.

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 rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sins: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall every word be established.

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

If an unrighteous witness rise up against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing,

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.

then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before the LORD, before the cohanim 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 the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, look, if the witness is a false witness, and has testified falsely 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.

then you shall do to him as he had thought to do to his brother: so you shall put away the evil from the midst of you.

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

Those who remain shall hear, and fear, and shall hereafter commit no more any such evil in the midst of you.

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.

Your eyes shall not pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.