Deuteronomy 19
By the Mouth of Two or Three Witnesses
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Cities of Refuge
19:1If the Lord your God destroys the nations whose land your God is giving you, and you inherit them and live in their cities and houses,
19:2set apart three cities within your land that the Lord your God is giving you.
19:3Plan the road for yourself and divide into three parts the boundaries of the land the Lord your God apportions to you, and there shall be a refuge there for every person who kills someone.
19:4This shall be the ordinance for the person who kills someone and may flee there and live: whoever strikes his neighbor involuntarily, without having hated him previously,
19:5as when someone goes into the forest with his neighbor to gather wood, his hand is jolted with the axe while cutting the wood, and the iron falls from the wood and strikes his neighbor, killing him. He may take refuge in one of these cities and live,
19:6so that the next of kin responsible for the blood does not pursue the killer in the heat of anger, overtake him if the road is too long, and strike him so that he dies, although he deserves no death sentence, since he did not previously hate his neighbor.
19:7Therefore I command you this word: Set apart three cities for yourself.
19:8If the Lord your God enlarges your boundaries as He swore to your fathers, and the Lord gives you all the land He promised to give your fathers,
19:9if you listen and practice all these commandments I command you today, loving the Lord your God and walking in all His ways for all time, then add three more cities to these three,
19:10Then innocent blood shall not be shed in the land the Lord your God is giving you as an allotment, and there shall be no one guilty of blood among you.
19:11But if someone hates his neighbor, lies in wait for him, rises against him, strikes him dead, and flees to one of these cities,
19:12then his city’s council of elders shall send for him, take him from there, and hand him over to the next of kin responsible for the blood, and he shall die.
19:13Let your eye show him no pity. Cleanse the guilt of innocent bloodshed from Israel, and it shall go well with you.
Property Boundaries and Landmarks
19:14Do not move your neighbor’s boundaries that your fathers established, in the inheritance allotted to you in the land the Lord your God is giving you as an allotment.
Witnesses and False Testimony
19:15A single witness shall not suffice to testify against anyone concerning any injustice, offense, or sin he commits. Every matter shall be established on the testimony of two witnesses and three witnesses.
19:16If an unjust witness appears against someone, accusing him of impiety,
19:17then the two men involved in the dispute shall stand before the Lord, before the priests, and before the judges serving in those days.
19:18The judges shall examine carefully. If an unjust witness has testified unjustly and opposed his brother,
19:19then do to him as he wickedly planned to do against his brother.
Remove the evil person from among yourselves.
19:20Those who remain shall hear and fear, and never again do such an evil thing among you.
19:21Let your eye show him no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.