Deuteronomy 19:4

4 And this is the cause of the sleyer that shal flee thither and be saued: Yf he smyte his neghboure ignorantly and hated him not in tyme passed:

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 thou shalt appoynte .iij. cities in the lande whiche the Lorde thy God geueth the to possesse it:

3 thou shalt prepare the waye and deuyde the costes of thy lande whiche the Lorde thy God geueth the to enheret, in to .iij. partes that whosoeuer committeth murthur may flee thither.

4 And this is the cause of the sleyer that shal flee thither and be saued: Yf he smyte his neghboure ignorantly and hated him not in tyme passed:

5 As when a man goeth vnto the wodd with his neghboure to hew wod, and as his hade fetcheth a stroke with the axe, the head slippeth from the helue and smyteth his neghboure that he dye: the same shall flee vnto one off the same cities ad be saued.

6 Lest the executer of bloude folowe after the sleyer while his hert is whote and ouertake him, because the waye is longe, and slee him, and yet there is no cause worthy of deeth in him, in as moch as he hated not his neghbour in tyme passed.