Deuteronomy 19

1 “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,

“When your God YHWH cuts off the nations whose land your God YHWH is giving to you, and you have dispossessed them, and dwelt in their cities and in their houses,

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

you separate three cities for yourself in the midst of your land which your God YHWH is giving to you to possess it.

3 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.

You prepare the way for yourself, and have divided into three parts the border of your land which your God YHWH causes you to inherit, and it has been for the fleeing there of every manslayer.

4 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,

And this [is] the matter of the manslayer who flees there, and has lived: he who strikes his neighbor unknowingly, and is not hating him before—

5 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.

even he who comes into a forest with his neighbor to hew wood, and his hand has driven with an axe to cut the tree, and the iron has slipped from the wood, and has met his neighbor, and he has died—he flees to one of these cities, and has lived,

6 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.

lest the redeemer of blood pursue after the manslayer when his heart is hot and has overtaken him, because the way is great, and has struck his life, and he has no sentence of death, for he is not hating him before;

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

therefore I am commanding you, saying, You separate three cities for yourself.

8 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,

And if your God YHWH enlarges your border, as He has sworn to your fathers, and has given to you all the land which He has spoken to give to your fathers—

9 (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.

when you keep all this command to do it, which I am commanding you today, to love your God YHWH and to walk in His ways [for] all the days—then you have added three more cities for yourself to these three;

10 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.

and [do this] lest innocent blood is shed in the midst of your land which your God YHWH is giving to you [for] an inheritance, and there has been blood on you.

11 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,

And when a man is hating his neighbor, and has lain in wait for him, and risen against him, and struck his life, and he has died, then he has fled to one of these cities,

12 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.

and [the] elderly of his city have sent and taken him from there, and given him into the hand of the redeemer of blood, and he has died;

13 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.

your eye has no pity on him, and you have put away the innocent blood from Israel, and it is well with you.

14 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.

You do not remove a border of your neighbor, which they of former times have made, in your inheritance, which you inherit in the land which your God YHWH is giving to you to possess it.

15 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.

One witness does not rise against a man for any iniquity and for any sin, in any sin which he sins; by the mouth of two witnesses or by the mouth of three witnesses is a thing established.

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

When a violent witness rises against a man to testify against him apostasy,

17 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.

then both of the men who have the strife have stood before YHWH, before the priests and the judges who are in those days,

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

and the judges have searched diligently, and behold, the witness [is] a false witness who has testified a falsehood against his brother,

19 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.

then you have done to him as he devised to do to his brother, and you have put away evil out of your midst,

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

and those who are left hear and fear, and do not add to do according to this evil thing in your midst anymore.

21 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.”

And your eye does not pity—life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.”