Deuteronomy 19:4

4 "This is the provision for ¹the manslayer, who by fleeing there may save his life. If anyone kills his neighbor unintentionally without having hated him in the past--

Deuteronomy 19:4 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 19:4

And this is the case of the slayer, which shall flee thither,
that he may live
It was not any slayer that might have protection in these cities, but such who were thus and thus circumstanced, or whose case was as follows:

whoso killeth his neighbour ignorantly;
without intention, as the Targum of Jonathan, did not design it, but was done by him unawares:

whom he hated not in time past;
had never shown by words or deeds that he had any hatred of him or enmity to him three days ago; so that if there were no marks of hatred, or proofs of it three days before this happened, it was reckoned an accidental thing, and not done on purpose, as this phrase is usually interpreted; see ( Exodus 21:29 ) .

Deuteronomy 19:4 In-Context

2 you shall set apart three cities for yourselves in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.

3 You shall measure the distances and divide into three parts the area of the land that the LORD your God gives you as a possession, so that any manslayer can flee to them.

4 "This is the provision for the manslayer, who by fleeing there may save his life. If anyone kills his neighbor unintentionally without having hated him in the past--

5 as when someone goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and his hand swings the axe to cut down a tree, and the head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies--he may flee to one of these cities and live,

6 lest the avenger of blood in hot anger pursue the manslayer and overtake him, because the way is long, and strike him fatally, though the man did not deserve to die, since he had not hated his neighbor in the past.

Cross References

• 1. Deuteronomy 4:42; Numbers 35:15; Joshua 20:3, 5