Deuteronomy 19:5-15

5 {For example}, when somebody goes with his neighbor into the forest to cut wood, and the iron [head] slips from the handle [of the tool] and strikes his neighbor and he dies, [then] he may flee to one of these cities, and [so] he may live.

6 [He does this] lest the avenger of blood might pursue after the killer, because {he is hot with anger} and he overtakes him, because it is a long distance [to the city of refuge], and [so] {he kills him}, but {he did not deserve a death sentence}, because he [was] not hating him {before}.

7 Therefore I [am] commanding you, {saying}, 'You shall set apart three cities.'

8 Then if Yahweh your God enlarges your territory [just] as he swore to your ancestors and gives to you all the land that he {promised} to give to your ancestors,

9 [then] {if you diligently observe this entire commandment} that I [am] commanding you {today} by loving Yahweh your God and by going in his ways {at all times}, then you shall add three more cities for yourselves to these three.

10 [Do this] so that innocent blood will not be shed in the midst of your land that Yahweh your God [is] giving to you [as an] inheritance and [thereby] bloodguilt would be on you.

11 But if someone hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and rises up against him {and murders him}, and [the murderer] flees to one of these cities,

12 then the elders of his city shall send and take him from there, and they shall give him into the hand of the avenger of blood, and he shall be put to death.

13 Your eye shall not take pity on him, and you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, {so that good will be directed toward you}.

14 "You shall not move the boundary [marker] of your neighbor that {former generations} set up on your property in the land that Yahweh your God [is] giving to you to take possession of it.

15 {The testimony of a single witness may not be used to convict} [with respect to] any crime and for any wrongdoing in any offense that a person committed; on the {evidence} of two witnesses or on the {evidence} of three witnesses {a charge shall be sustained}.

Deuteronomy 19:5-15 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 19

This chapter contains an order to separate three cities of refuge in the land of Canaan, for such that killed a man unawares to flee to, of which those who were guilty of murder purposely were to have no benefit, De 19:1-13, a law is given against removing landmarks, De 19:14, and others concerning witnesses, that they should be more than one; be two, or three, De 19:15, and that a false witness, on conviction, should be punished, De 19:16-21.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "And as"
• [b]. Literally "is hot his heart"
• [c]. Literally "he strikes him down as to his life/soul"
• [d]. Literally "for him there was not a judgment of death"
• [e]. Literally "from yesterday [and the] day before"
• [f]. Literally "to say"
• [g]. Or "fathers"
• [h]. Hebrew "will give"
• [i]. Literally "spoke"
• [j]. Or "fathers"
• [k]. Literally "if you observe all [of] the commandment the this to do it"
• [l]. Literally "the day"
• [m]. Or "walking"
• [n]. Literally "all [of] the days"
• [o]. Hebrew "is not shed"
• [p]. Hebrew "shall be on you," but conditional sense of imperfect is clear
• [q]. Hebrew "[is] hating"
• [r]. Or "gets up"
• [s]. Literally "and strikes him mortally [with regard to his life] and he dies"
• [t]. Literally "and good shall be for you" or "it shall be good for you"
• [u]. Literally "the first settlers/ancestors"
• [v]. Literally "Not shall get up [only] a single witness against a man"
• [w]. Hebrew "he"
• [x]. Literally "mouth"
• [y]. Literally "mouth"
• [z]. Literally "shall be established a case/charge"