Cities of Refuge
1
"
When the
LORD your
God cuts off the
nations,
whose land the
LORD your
God gives you, and you
dispossess them and
settle in their
cities and in their
houses,
2
you shall
set aside three cities for yourself in the
midst of your
land,
which the
LORD your
God gives you to
possess.
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3
"You shall
prepare the
roads for yourself, and
divide into
three parts the
territory of your
land which the
LORD your
God will
give you as a
possession, so that
any manslayer may
flee there.
5
as
when a man
goes into the
forest with his
friend to
cut wood, and his
hand swings the
axe to
cut down the
tree, and the
iron head
slips off the
handle and
strikes his
friend so that he
dies -he may
flee to
one of
these cities and
live ;
6
otherwise the
avenger of
blood might
pursue the
manslayer in the
heat of his
anger, and
overtake him,
because the
way is
long, and
take his
life, though he was not
deserving of
death,
since he had not
hated him
previously.
7
"Therefore *, I
command you,
saying, 'You shall
set aside three cities for yourself.'
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10
"So
innocent blood will not be
shed in the
midst of your
land which the
LORD your
God gives you as an
inheritance, and
bloodguiltiness be on you.
11
"But
if there is a
man who
hates his
neighbor and
lies in
wait for him and
rises up
against him and
strikes him so that he
dies, and he
flees to
one of
these cities,
12
then the
elders of his
city shall
send and
take him from
there and
deliver him into the
hand of the
avenger of
blood, that he may
die.
13
" You shall not
pity him, but you shall
purge the
blood of the
innocent from
Israel, that it may
go well with you.
Laws of Landmark and Testimony
14
" You shall not
move your
neighbor's boundary mark,
which the
ancestors have
set, in your
inheritance which you will
inherit in the
land that the
LORD your
God gives you to
possess.
15
" A
single witness shall not
rise up against a
man on account of
any iniquity or
any sin which he has
committed ; on the
evidence of
two or three witnesses a
matter shall be
confirmed.
17
then
both the
men who have the
dispute shall
stand before the
LORD,
before the
priests and the
judges who will be in office in
those days.
19
then you shall
do to him
just as he had
intended to
do to his
brother. Thus you shall
purge the
evil from
among you.
20
" The
rest will
hear and be
afraid, and will
never again * do such an
evil thing among you.
21
"Thus you shall not
show pity :
life for
life,
eye for
eye,
tooth for
tooth,
hand for
hand,
foot for
foot.