Deuteronomy 19:21

21 Thine eye shall not spare him: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Deuteronomy 19:21 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 19:21

And thine eye shall not pity
The false witness when convicted; this is directed to the judges, who should not spare such an one through favour or affection, but pronounce a righteous sentence on him, and see it executed, in proportion to the crime, and that according to the law of retaliation:

but life shall go for life;
in such a case where the life of a person must have gone, if the falsehood of the testimony had not been discovered, the false witness must suffer death; in other cases, where a member would have been lost, or the price of it paid for, the same penalty was to be inflicted:

eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot;
that is, the price of an eye an eye see ( Exodus 21:23 Exodus 21:24 ) ( Leviticus 24:19 Leviticus 24:20 ) .

Deuteronomy 19:21 In-Context

19 then shall ye do to him as he wickedly devised to do against his brother, and thou shalt remove the evil from yourselves.

20 And the rest shall hear and fear, and do no more according to this evil thing in the midst of you.

21 Thine eye shall not spare him: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.