Concerning Murder and Blood Revenge

¹⁶ “But anyone who strikes another with an iron object, and death ensues, is a murderer; the murderer shall be put to death.^(A)

¹⁷ Anyone who kills a human being shall be put to death.^(A)

¹¹ “But if someone at enmity with another lies in wait and attacks and takes the life of that person and flees into one of these cities, ¹² then the elders of the killer’s city shall send to have the culprit taken from there and handed over to the avenger of blood to be put to death. ¹³ Show no pity; you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, so that it may go well with you.^(A)

³⁰ “If anyone kills another, the murderer shall be put to death on the evidence of witnesses, but no one shall be put to death on the testimony of a single witness.^{(A) 31} Moreover you shall accept no ransom for the life of a murderer who is subject to the death penalty; a murderer must be put to death. ³² Nor shall you accept ransom for one who has fled to a city of refuge, enabling the fugitive to return to live in the land before the death of the high priest. ³³ You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land, and no expiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it.^(B)

²² “But if someone pushes another suddenly without enmity or hurls any object without lying in wait,^{(A) 23} or, while handling any stone that could cause death, unintentionally^[a] drops it on another and death ensues, though they were not enemies and no harm was intended, ²⁴ then the congregation shall judge between the slayer and the avenger of blood, in accordance with these ordinances,^(B)

The Law concerning Violence

¹² “Whoever strikes a person mortally shall be put to death.^{(A) 13} If it was not premeditated but came about by an act of God, then I will appoint for you a place to which the killer may flee.^{(B) 14} But if someone willfully attacks and kills another by treachery, you shall take the killer from my altar for execution.^(C)

⁵ For your own lifeblood I will surely require a reckoning: from every animal I will require it and from human beings, each one for the blood of another, I will require a reckoning for human life.^(A)