Deuteronomy 19

Legacy Standard Bible

Statutes About Cities of Refuge

19 “^(A)When Yahweh your God cuts off the nations, whose land Yahweh your God gives you, and you dispossess them and settle in their cities and in their houses, ^2 (B)you shall set apart three cities for yourself in the midst of your land, which Yahweh your God gives you to ^[a]possess. ³ You shall prepare the ^[b]roads for yourself, and divide into three parts the territory of your land which Yahweh your God will give you to inherit, ^[c]so that any manslayer may flee there.

⁴ “^(C)Now this is the case of the manslayer who may flee there and live: when he strikes down his friend ^[d]without premeditation, ^[e]not hating him previously— ⁵ as when a man goes into the forest with his friend to cut wood, and his hand ^[f]swings the axe to cut down the tree, and the iron head slips off the ^[g]handle and ^[h]strikes his friend so that he dies—he may flee to one of these cities and live; ⁶ lest the avenger of blood pursue the manslayer when his heart is ^[i]angry, and overtake him, because the way is long, and ^[j]strike down his life, though he was not deserving of death, since he had not hated him previously. ⁷ Therefore, I am commanding you, saying, ‘You shall set apart three cities for yourself.’

⁸ “Now if Yahweh your God ^(D)enlarges your territory, just as He has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land which He ^[k]promised to give to your fathers— ⁹ if you ^[l]be careful to do all this commandment which I am commanding you today, ^(E)to love Yahweh your God and to walk in His ways all your days—^(F)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 Yahweh your God gives you as an inheritance, and ^(G)bloodguiltiness be on you.

¹¹ “But ^(H)if there is a man who hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and rises up against him and strikes down ^[m]his life so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities, ¹² then the elders of his city shall send and take him from there and give him over into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die. ^13 [n](I)You shall not pity him, but ^(J)you shall purge the blood of the innocent from Israel, that it may go well with you.

Statutes About Boundaries and Witnesses

¹⁴ “^(K)You shall not move your neighbor’s boundary mark, which the ancestors have set, in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land that Yahweh your God gives you to ^[o]possess.

¹⁵ “^(L)A single witness shall not rise up against a man on account of any iniquity or any sin ^[p]which he has committed; at the mouth of two or three witnesses a matter shall be established. ^16 (M)If a malicious witness rises up against a man to ^[q]accuse him of ^[r]wrongdoing, ¹⁷ then both the men who have the dispute shall stand ^(N)before Yahweh, before the priests and the judges who will be in office in those days. ¹⁸ And the judges ^(O)shall inquire thoroughly, and behold, if the witness is a false witness and he has ^[s]accused his brother falsely, ¹⁹ then ^(P)you shall do to him just as he had intended to do to his brother. Thus you shall purge the evil from among you. ^20 (Q)And the rest will hear and be afraid and will never again do such an evil thing among you. ²¹ Thus ^(R)your eye shall not show pity: ^(S)life for life, ^(T)eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.