Deuteronomy 19:14-21

Common English Bible

Property laws

¹⁴ Now in the land the Lord your God is giving you, in your allotted property that you will receive there, you must not tamper with your neighbor’s property line, which has been previously established.

Rules for testimony

¹⁵ A solitary witness against someone in any crime, wrongdoing, or in any sort of misdeed that might be done is not sufficient. The decision must stand by two or three witnesses. ¹⁶ Now if a spiteful witness comes forward against someone, so as to testify against them falsely, ¹⁷ the two persons who have a legal suit must stand before the Lord, before the priests, and before the judges that are in office at that time. ¹⁸ The judges will look into the situation very carefully. If it turns out that the witness is a liar—that the witness has given false testimony against his fellow Israelite— ¹⁹ then you must do to him what he had planned to do to his fellow Israelite. Remove^[a] such evil from your community! ²⁰ The rest of the people will hear about this and be afraid. They won’t do that sort of evil thing among you again. ²¹ Show no mercy on this point: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.