Deuteronomy 18:14-19:13

New American Standard Bible

¹⁴ For these nations, which you are going to dispossess, listen to ^(A)soothsayers and diviners, but as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do so.

¹⁵ “^(B)The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen; to him you shall listen. ¹⁶ This is ^(C)in accordance with everything that you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Do not let me hear the voice of the Lord my God again, and do not let me see this great fire anymore, or I will die!’ ¹⁷ And ^(D)the Lord said to me, ‘They have ^[a]spoken well. ¹⁸ I will raise up for them a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and ^(E)I will put My words in his mouth, and ^(F)he shall speak to them everything that I command him. ^19 (G)And it shall come about that whoever does not listen to My words which he speaks in My name, I Myself will ^[b]require it of him. ²⁰ But the prophet who speaks a word ^(H)presumptuously in My name, a word which I have not commanded him to speak, or ^(I)which he speaks in the name of other gods, ^[c]that prophet shall die.’ ²¹ And if you say in your heart, ‘How will we recognize the word which the Lord has not spoken?’ ^22 (J)When the prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, and the thing does not happen or come true, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it ^(K)presumptuously; you are not to be afraid of him.

Cities of Refuge

19 “^(L)When the Lord your God cuts off the nations whose land the Lord your God is giving you, and you dispossess them and settle in their cities and in their houses, ^2 (M)you shall set aside for yourself three cities in the midst of your land which the Lord your God is giving you to ^[d]possess. ³ You shall prepare the ^[e]roads for yourself, and divide into three regions the territory of your land which the Lord your God will give you as an inheritance, ^[f]so that anyone who commits manslaughter may flee there.

⁴ “^(N)Now this is the case of the one who commits manslaughter, who may flee there and live: when he ^[g]kills his friend ^[h]unintentionally, ^[i]not hating him previously— ⁵ as when a person goes into the forest with his friend to cut wood, and his hand ^[j]swings the axe to cut down the tree, and the iron head slips off the ^[k]handle and ^[l]strikes his friend so that he dies—he may flee to one of these cities and live. ⁶ Otherwise, the avenger of blood might pursue ^[m]him ^[n]in the heat of his anger, and overtake him because the way is long, and ^[o]take his life, though he was not sentenced to death since he had not hated him previously. ⁷ Therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall set aside for yourself three cities.’

⁸ “And if the Lord your God ^(O)enlarges your territory, just as He has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land that He ^[p]promised to give your fathers— ⁹ if you ^[q]carefully follow all of this commandment which I am commanding you today, ^(P)to love the Lord your God, and to walk in His ways always—^(Q)then you shall add three more cities for yourself, besides these three. ¹⁰ So innocent blood will not be shed in the midst of your land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and ^(R)guilt for bloodshed will not be on you.

¹¹ “But ^(S)if there is a person who hates his neighbor, and waits in ambush for him and rises up against him and strikes ^[r]him so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities, ¹² then the elders of his city shall send men and take him from there, and hand him over to the avenger of blood, so that he may die. ^13 [s](T)You shall not pity him, but ^(U)you shall eliminate the guilt for the bloodshed of the innocent from Israel, so that it may go well for you.