Deuteronomy 19:13

13 Show no pity; you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, so that it may go well with you.

Deuteronomy 19:13 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 19:13

Thine eye shall not pity him
This is not said to the avenger of blood, who is not to be supposed to have any pity or compassion on such a person, but to the elders, judges, and civil magistrates of the city to which he belonged, who took cognizance of his case; these were to show him no favour on account of his being a citizen, a neighbour, a relation or friend, or a rich man, or on any account whatever; but without favour or affection were to judge him and put him to death as a murderer; see ( Numbers 35:21 ) ,

but thou shall put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel;
by which they would be defiled, and be liable to punishment for it; see ( Numbers 35:33 Numbers 35:34 ) , the Targum of Jonathan is,

``shall put away those that shed innocent blood out of Israel;''

put them away by death:

that it may go well with thee;
with the whole land and its inhabitants, and with the city particularly, and the magistrates, and men of it, to which the murderer condemned to death belonged, being continued in the enjoyment of all temporal blessings and mercies.

Deuteronomy 19:13 In-Context

11 But if someone at enmity with another lies in wait and attacks and takes the life of that person, and flees into one of these cities,
12 then the elders of the killer's city shall send to have the culprit taken from there and handed over to the avenger of blood to be put to death.
13 Show no pity; you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, so that it may go well with you.
14 You must not move your neighbor's boundary marker, set up by former generations, on the property that will be allotted to you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess.
15 A single witness shall not suffice to convict a person of any crime or wrongdoing in connection with any offense that may be committed. Only on the evidence of two or three witnesses shall a charge be sustained.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.