Deuteronomy 19:1-21 (New American Standard)
View In My BibleCities of Refuge
1 "1When 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 2you shall set aside three cities for yourself in the midst of your land, which the LORD your God gives you to apossess. 3 "You shall prepare the broads for yourself, and divide into three parts the territory of your land which the LORD your God will give you as a possession, cso that any manslayer may flee there. 4 "3Now this is the case of the manslayer who may flee there and live : when he dkills his friend eunintentionally , fnot hating him previously - 5 as when a man goes into the forest with his friend to cut wood, and his hand gswings the axe to cut down the tree, and the iron head slips off the hhandle and istrikes 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 jin the heat of his anger, and overtake him, because the way is long, and ktake 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.' 8 "If the LORD your God 4enlarges your territory, just as He has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land which He lpromised to give your fathers - 9 if you mcarefully observe all this commandment which I command you today, 5to love the LORD your God, and to walk in His ways always -6then you shall add three more cities for yourself, besides these three. 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 7bloodguiltiness be on you. 11 "But 8if there is a man who hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and rises up against him and strikes nhim 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 "o9You shall not pity him, but 10you shall purge the blood of the innocent from Israel, that it may go well with you.Laws of Landmark and Testimony
14 "11You 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 ppossess. 15 "12A single witness shall not rise up against a man on account of any iniquity or any sin qwhich he has committed ; on the revidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed. 16 "13If a malicious witness rises up against a man to saccuse him of twrongdoing, 17 then both the men who have the dispute shall stand 14before the LORD, before the priests and the judges who will be in office in those days. 18 "The judges 15shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is a false witness and he has uaccused his brother falsely, 19 then 16you shall do to him just as he had intended to do to his brother. Thus you shall purge the evil from among you. 20 "17The rest will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such an evil thing among you. 21 "Thus v18you shall not show pity : 19life for life, 20eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, California. All rights reserved. (New American Standard Version - Holy Bible)
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