Deuteronomy 4:42

42 that he shulde fle thiter which had kylled his neyghboure vnwares and hated him not in tyme past and therfore shulde fle vnto one of the same cities and lyue:

Deuteronomy 4:42 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 4:42

That the slayer might flee thither
For refuge; the slayer of a man, but not any slayer, but

which should kill his neighbour unawares;
by accident to him, without any design and intention to kill him; ignorantly, as the Septuagint version; and so Onkelos:

and hated him not in times past;
it having never appeared that there had been a quarrel between them, and that the slayer had shown any enmity to the man slain any time before the fact, or bore a grudge against him, or spite unto him:

and that, fleeing unto one of these cities, he might live;
in peace and safety unto his own death, or unto the death of the high priest, when he was released from his confinement to the city of his refuge, and might return to his tribe, house, family, and possessions.

Deuteronomy 4:42 In-Context

40 kepe therfore his ordynaunces, and his commaundmentes which I commaunde the this daye, that it maye goo well with the and with thi childern after the and that thou mayst prolonge thy dayes vppon the erth which the Lorde thi God geueth the for euer.

41 Then Moses seuered .iij. cities on the other syde Iordane towarde the sonne rysynge,

42 that he shulde fle thiter which had kylled his neyghboure vnwares and hated him not in tyme past and therfore shulde fle vnto one of the same cities and lyue:

43 Bezer in the wildernesse euen in the playne contre amonge the Rubenites: and Ramoth in Gilead amonge the Gaddites and Solan in Basan amonge the Manassites.

44 This is the lawe which Moses set before the childern of Israel,