Deuteronomy 19

When 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;

1The LORD your God will drive out the nations living in the land. He is giving that land to you. You will live in their cities and their houses.

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

2When that happens, choose three cities in the land God is giving you.

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.

3Build good roads to them. Split your land into three parts, with one city in each part. Then anyone who kills someone can run to a city quickly.

NoteThe KJV says "coasts." In 1611 that meant the borders or regions of a land, not the seashore.

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;

4Here is the rule about a person who runs there to stay alive. It is for someone who killed a neighbor by accident, with no hate for him before.

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:

5Say two men go into the woods to cut trees. One man swings his axe at a tree. The metal head slips off the wooden handle. It hits the other man, and he dies. That man may run to one of these cities and live.

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.

6If he did not run, an angry family member of the dead man might chase him. That man is called the avenger of blood. If the road were long, he could catch him and kill him. But the man did not deserve to die, because he never hated his neighbor.

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

7That is why I am telling you this: set apart three cities.

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;

8One day the LORD your God may make your land bigger. He promised your fathers long ago to give you all of it.

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:

9That will happen if you obey all the commands I give you today. Love the LORD your God and always live his way. Then add three more cities to the first three.

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.

10Do this so no one who is innocent is killed in your land. It is the land God is giving you to keep. Then you will not be guilty of his death.

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:

11But someone may hate his neighbor and hide and wait for him. He may jump out, hit him, and kill him. Then he runs to one of these cities.

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.

12The leaders of his own town must send for him and bring him back. They must hand him over to the avenger of blood, and he will die.

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.

13Do not feel sorry for him. Take away from Israel the guilt of killing someone innocent. Then things will go well for you.

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.

14Do not move the stone that marks the edge of your neighbor's land. People long ago set those stones in place. They show which land belongs to each family in the land God is giving you.

NoteThe KJV word "landmark" here means a stone set in the ground to show where one family's land ends and another's begins. It does not mean a famous building.

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.

15One witness alone is not enough to prove that a man did wrong. It takes two or three witnesses to settle the matter.

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

16Someone may stand up and lie about another man. He may say that man did something wrong when he did not.

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;

17Then both men in the argument must come and stand before the LORD. They must stand before the priests and the judges who are serving then.

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

18The judges must ask careful questions and find out the truth. They may learn that the witness lied about his fellow Israelite.

Note"Diligent inquisition" in the KJV simply means a careful investigation. It does not mean hurting anyone to get answers.

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.

19Then do to the liar what he wanted done to the other man. That is how you take evil away from among you.

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

20Everyone else will hear about it and be afraid. They will not do such an evil thing again.

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

21Do not feel sorry for him. It must be life for life and eye for eye. It must be tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot.