Deuteronomy 19

1 When the LORD your God cuts off the nations whose land the LORD your God gives you, and you succeed 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 you shall set apart three cities for yourselves in the middle of your land, which the LORD your God gives you to possess.

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

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

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 This is the case of the man slayer who shall flee there and live: Whoever kills his neighbour unintentionally, and didn’t hate him in time 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 as when a man goes into the forest with his neighbour to chop wood and his hand swings the axe to cut down the tree, and the head slips from the handle and hits his neighbour so that he dies—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 Otherwise, the avenger of blood might pursue the man slayer while hot anger is in his heart and overtake him, because the way is long, and strike him mortally, even though he was not worthy of death, because he didn’t hate him 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 command you to set apart three cities for yourselves.

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

8 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;

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 and if you keep all this commandment to do it, which I command you today, to love the LORD your God, and to walk ever in his ways, then you shall add three cities more for yourselves, in addition 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 This is so that innocent blood will not be shed in the middle of your land which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance, leaving blood guilt on you.

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 any man hates his neighbour, lies in wait for him, rises up against him, strikes him mortally so that he dies, and he flees into 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 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.

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 Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall purge the innocent blood from Israel that it may go well with you.

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 You shall not remove your neighbour’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.

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 rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin that he sins. At the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall a matter 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 If an unrighteous witness rises up against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing,

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

17 then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges who shall 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 inquisition; and behold, if the witness is a false witness, and has testified falsely 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 you shall do to him as he had thought to do to his brother. So you shall remove the evil from amongst you.

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 Those who remain shall hear, and fear, and will never again commit any such evil amongst you.

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

21 Your eyes shall not pity: 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.”