Deuteronomy 19

The LORD your God is going to destroy the nations whose land he is giving you. When you have taken their place and are living in their cities and their houses, do this:

1When the LORD thy God hath cut off the nations, whose land the LORD thy God giveth thee, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their cities, and in their houses;

Note"The nations" means the peoples already living in Canaan, whose land Israel is being told it will take over. The speaker throughout this chapter is Moses, addressing Israel before they cross into that land.

2Set apart three cities for yourselves inside the land the LORD your God is giving you to own.

2Thou shalt separate three cities for thee in the midst of thy land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it.

NoteThese are what the rest of the Bible calls "cities of refuge." A person who had killed someone and reached one of them was safe from private revenge until his case could be heard. Six were eventually named, three east of the Jordan and three west of it (Joshua 20).

3Build roads to them, and divide the territory of the land the LORD your God is giving you into three regions, so that anyone who kills someone can escape to one of these cities.

3Thou shalt prepare thee a way, and divide the coasts of thy land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee to inherit, into three parts, that every slayer may flee thither.

NoteThe roads had to be built and kept passable so a fleeing man could reach a refuge city fast, and the land divided into three districts so nobody lived too far from one.

4Here is the rule about a person who kills someone and flees there to stay alive: it applies when he killed his neighbor by accident, and had not hated him before.

4And this is the case of the slayer, which shall flee thither, that he may live: Whoso killeth his neighbour ignorantly, whom he hated not in time past;

Note"By accident" renders a Hebrew phrase meaning "without knowledge", without intending the death. There was no police investigation or forensic evidence, so the practical test of intent was whether the two men were known to have been enemies beforehand. That is why "had not hated him before" keeps recurring.

5For example, a man goes into the woods with his neighbor to cut timber. He swings his axe to chop down a tree, the axe head flies off the handle, hits his neighbor, and the neighbor dies. That man may run to one of these cities and live.

5As when a man goeth into the wood with his neighbour to hew wood, and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the head slippeth from the helve, and lighteth upon his neighbour, that he die; he shall flee unto one of those cities, and live:

NoteA concrete example of a death nobody intended: axe heads were separate pieces of metal wedged onto a wooden handle, and they worked loose with use and could fly off mid-swing.

6Otherwise the dead man's avenging relative might chase him while his anger is hot, catch him because the distance is great, and kill him. That would be wrong, since he did not deserve to die: he had not hated the man before.

6Lest the avenger of the blood pursue the slayer, while his heart is hot, and overtake him, because the way is long, and slay him; whereas he was not worthy of death, inasmuch as he hated him not in time past.

NoteThe avenging relative (Hebrew go'el ha-dam, "the redeemer of blood") was the dead person's nearest male kinsman. In a society with no police and no public prosecutor, tracking down and killing whoever had taken his relative's life was his recognized duty and his family's right. This law does not invent that custom; it limits it, by giving a man who killed accidentally somewhere to run.

7That is why I am commanding you to set apart three cities for yourselves.

7Wherefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt separate three cities for thee.

8And if the LORD your God makes your territory larger, as he promised your ancestors he would, and gives you the whole land he promised to give them,

8And if the LORD thy God enlarge thy coast, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers, and give thee all the land which he promised to give unto thy fathers;

NoteThe promise of a larger territory refers to borders wider than Israel ever actually held (see Genesis 15:18). The practical point is that a bigger country would put the three cities out of easy reach, so three more would be needed.

9and if you carefully keep all these commands I am giving you today, loving the LORD your God and always living the way he tells you to, then add three more cities to these three.

9If thou shalt keep all these commandments to do them, which I command thee this day, to love the LORD thy God, and to walk ever in his ways; then shalt thou add three cities more for thee, beside these three:

10Do this so that no innocent person is killed in the land the LORD your God is giving you to own, and so that you are not held guilty for that death.

10That innocent blood be not shed in thy land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and so blood be upon thee.

NoteIn Israelite thinking, blood wrongly shed left a stain of guilt on the whole community and on the land itself until the matter was properly settled. That is what "held guilty for that death" means: not personal remorse, but a debt the community carries.

11But suppose a man hates his neighbor, hides and waits for him, attacks him and strikes him so that he dies, and then runs to one of these cities.

11But if any man hate his neighbour, and lie in wait for him, and rise up against him, and smite him mortally that he die, and fleeth into one of these cities:

12Then the leaders of his own town must send for him and bring him back from there, and hand him over to the avenging relative to be put to death.

12Then the elders of his city shall send and fetch him thence, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die.

NoteThe elders were the senior heads of households who handled a town's legal business, normally meeting in the open space just inside the town gate. Judging whether a killing was murder or accident was their job, the refuge city gave shelter, not a verdict.

13Do not feel sorry for him. Clear Israel of the guilt of killing an innocent person, so that things will go well for you.

13Thine eye shall not pity him, but thou shalt put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with thee.

Note"Do not feel sorry for him" translates the Hebrew idiom "your eye shall not pity him." It is a standard legal formula warning judges and community not to let sympathy quietly set aside a sentence the law required.

14Do not move the marker that shows where your neighbor's land ends. People long ago set those markers to show the land you will receive in the country the LORD your God is giving you to own.

14Thou shalt not remove thy neighbour’s landmark, which they of old time have set in thine inheritance, which thou shalt inherit in the land that the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it.

NoteFields were marked off by stones or piled earth at the corners and edges, no fences, no maps, no written deeds. Shifting a marker a few feet at a time was a way of stealing a neighbor's land that was almost impossible to prove, which is why it needed a law of its own. Since land was held as a family inheritance rather than bought and sold freely, the theft was permanent.

15One witness alone is not enough to convict a man of any wrongdoing or sin, whatever the offense. A charge must be settled by the word of two witnesses, or of three.

15One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.

NoteCases were decided on spoken testimony alone, so this rule was the main safeguard against one accuser destroying a person. "Two or three" means a minimum of two.

16Suppose a lying witness comes forward against a man and accuses him of a crime he did not commit.

16If a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong;

NoteThe Hebrew phrase is literally "a witness of violence", a witness whose testimony is itself an act of harm against the accused.

17Then both men in the dispute must stand before the LORD, in front of the priests and the judges who are serving at that time.

17Then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges, which shall be in those days;

Note"Stand before the LORD" means to appear at the central sanctuary, where the priests served; difficult cases were referred there instead of being settled by the local elders. "Who are serving at that time" recognizes that the men holding these offices would change from generation to generation.

18The judges must investigate the case carefully. If the witness turns out to be a liar who has falsely accused his fellow Israelite,

18And the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother;

19then do to that witness what he was trying to have done to the other man. In this way you remove the evil from among you.

19Then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to have done unto his brother: so shalt thou put the evil away from among you.

Note"Remove the evil from among you" is a recurring formula in Deuteronomy. It means ridding the community of the offense by actually carrying out the sentence, not merely condemning it.

20The rest of the people will hear about it and be afraid, and they will never again do such an evil thing among you.

20And those which remain shall hear, and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you.

21Do not feel sorry for him. The penalty is life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

21And thine eye shall not pity; but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Note"Life for life, eye for eye" is a legal formula found in law codes across the ancient Near East; it is often called by its Latin name, lex talionis, "the law of like for like." In such codes it sets a ceiling as much as a floor: the penalty must match the injury and may not exceed it, which rules out escalating blood feuds. Elsewhere in Israelite law, injuries between people are commonly settled by payment (Exodus 21:18-27), and later Jewish legal tradition understood this formula as a measure of compensation owed rather than literal maiming.