en-v0.1→en-v0.2-dev·#dfecefe1c659Contribute to en-v0.2
Deuteronomy 19:1-21 — Cities of Refuge; Witnesses
Deut.19.1-21
1When Yahweh your God cuts off the nations whose land Yahweh your God is giving you, and you dispossess them and live in their cities and houses, 2you shall set apart three cities for yourselves within your land that Yahweh your God is giving you to possess. 3You shall prepare the roads for yourselves and divide into three parts the territory of your land that Yahweh your God is giving you as an inheritance, so that every manslayer may flee there. 4And this is the case of the manslayer who may flee there and live: if he struck his neighbor unintentionally, not having hated him previously, 5for example, if a man goes with his neighbor into the forest to cut wood, and as his hand swings the axe to cut down the tree, the iron head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies, he may flee to one of these cities and live. 6Otherwise the blood-avenger may pursue the manslayer while his heart is hot, overtake him because the journey is long, and strike him down, though he did not deserve death, since he had not hated him previously. 7Therefore I am commanding you: Set apart three cities for yourselves. 8And if Yahweh your God enlarges your territory, as he swore to your fathers, and gives you all the land that he promised to give to your fathers, 9provided that you keep all this commandment that I am commanding you today, to do it, by loving Yahweh your God and walking in his ways always, then you shall add three more cities to these three. 10Then innocent blood will not be shed in the midst of your land that Yahweh your God is giving you as an inheritance, and bloodguilt will not be upon you. 11But if a man hates his neighbor, lies in wait for him, rises up against him, and strikes him fatally so that he dies, and then flees to one of these cities, 12then the elders of his city shall send for him, take him from there, and hand him over to the blood-avenger to die. 13Do not show pity to him, but purge the innocent blood from Israel, so that it may go well with you. 14You shall not move your neighbor's boundary marker, which the former generations set up, in the inheritance that you will receive in the land that Yahweh your God is giving you to possess. 15A single witness shall not stand against a man for any iniquity or any sin, whatever sin he may commit. A matter shall be established by the testimony of two witnesses or of three witnesses. 16If a malicious witness rises up against a man to accuse him of wrongdoing, 17then both men involved in the dispute shall stand before Yahweh, before the priests and the judges who are serving in those days. 18The judges shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is indeed a false witness who has accused his brother falsely, 19then you shall do to him as he intended to do to his brother. So you shall purge the evil from among you. 20And the rest shall hear and fear, and never again do such an evil thing among you. 21Do not show pity: life for life, eye for eye , tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
Translation Notes
4/11/2026
💡 Read the current translation below. If you have suggestions, comment by verse.
Loading...
📚 Reference Translations
🔬 Exegesis Resources