Deuteronomy 19:15

Witnesses in Court

15 "One witness cannot establish any wrongdoing or sin against a person, whatever that person has done.[a] A fact must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.[b]

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 must not look on him with pity but purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, and you will prosper.
14 "You must not move your neighbor's boundary marker, established at the start in the inheritance you will receive in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess.
15 "One witness cannot establish any wrongdoing or sin against a person, whatever that person has done. A fact must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.
16 "If a malicious witness testifies against someone accusing him of a crime,
17 the two people in the dispute must stand in the presence of the Lord before the priests and judges in authority at the time.

Footnotes 2

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