¹⁴ “For these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to soothsayers and fortune-tellers, but as for you, Adonai your God will not allow you to do so.

A Prophet is Promised

¹⁵ “Adonai your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your midst—from your brothers. To him you must listen. ^{[a] 16} This is just what you asked of Adonai your God in Horeb on the day of the assembly when saying, ‘I cannot continue to hear the voice of Adonai my God or see this great fire any more, or I will die.’

¹⁷ “Adonai said to me, ‘They have done well in what they have spoken. ¹⁸ I will raise up a prophet like you for them from among their brothers. I will put My words in his mouth, and he will speak to them all that I command him. ^{[b] 19} Now whoever does not listen to My words that this prophet speaks in My Name, I Myself will call him to account. ^{[c] 20} But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My Name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods—that prophet will die.’

²¹ “Now should you say in your heart, ‘How would we recognize the word that Adonai has not spoken?’ ²² When a prophet speaks in Adonai’s Name and the word does not happen or come true, that is a word that Adonai has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously—do not be afraid of him.

Cities of Refuge

19 “When Adonai your God cuts off the nations whose land Adonai your God is giving you, and you dispossess them and dwell in their cities and houses, ² you are to set apart three cities for yourself within the land He is giving you to possess. ³ You are to prepare the way for yourself and divide into three parts the borders of your land that Adonai your God enables you to inherit, so that anyone who kills may flee there. ⁴ Now this is the case of the one who kills, who may flee there and live—whoever kills his neighbor unintentionally and did not hate him in the past— ⁵ as when someone goes into the forest with his neighbor to chop wood, and his hand takes a swing with the axe to cut down the tree, and the iron flies off the wood and hits his neighbor so that he dies. He may flee to one of these cities and live. ⁶ Otherwise if the way is long, the avenger of the blood, while his heart is hot, may chase the manslayer, catch up to him and strike him dead. Yet no death sentence is on him, since he did not hate him in the past. ⁷ Therefore I am commanding you—set apart three cities for yourself.

⁸ “Suppose Adonai your God enlarges your territory, as He has sworn to your fathers, and He gives you all the land that He promised to give to your fathers— ⁹ when you take care to do all this mitzvah that I am commanding you today, to love Adonai your God and to always walk in His ways. Then you are to add three more cities for yourself, besides these three. ¹⁰ Then innocent blood will not be shed within your land that Adonai your God is giving you as an inheritance, and there would be blood upon you.

¹¹ “But suppose someone hates his neighbor, waits in hiding for him, rises up against him, strikes him dead, then flees to one of these cities. ¹² Then the elders of his hometown should send and take him from there and hand him over to the avenger of blood, to die. ¹³ Your eye should not pity him, but you must purge the innocent blood from Israel, so that it may go well with you.