Deuteronomy 19:15

15 "1A 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.

Deuteronomy 19:15 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 19:15

One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity,
or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth
Whether capital sins, or pecuniary debts; or whatsoever sins a man may be guilty of whether sins against the first or second table of the law, whether greater or lesser sins, whether in moral or civil things; the Jews except only in the case of a woman suspected of adultery and of beheading the heifer:

at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses,
shall the matter be established;
either for acquittance or condemnation; and the witnesses may not, as Jarchi says, write their testimony in a letter, and send it to the sanhedrim, nor may an interpreter stand between the witnesses and the judges; (See Gill on Deuteronomy 17:6).

Deuteronomy 19:15 In-Context

13 "You shall not pity him, but you shall purge the blood of the innocent from Israel, that it may go well with you.
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.
16 "If a malicious witness rises up against a man to accuse him of wrongdoing,
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.

Cross References 1

  • 1. Numbers 35:30; Deuteronomy 17:6; Matthew 18:16; John 8:17; 2 Corinthians 13:1; 1 Timothy 5:19; Hebrews 10:28

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. Lit "in any sin, which he sins"
  • [b]. Lit "mouth of two witnesses, or by the mouth of three"
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