1 “ADeut 6:10, 11When the Loʀᴅ your God cuts off the nations, whose land the Loʀᴅ your God gives you, and you dispossess them and settle in their cities and in their houses, 2 ADeut 4:41; Josh 20:2you shall set aside three cities for yourself in the midst of your land, which the Loʀᴅ your God gives you to 1Lit possess itpossess. 3  “You shall prepare the 1Lit roadroads for yourself, and divide into three parts the territory of your land which the Loʀᴅ your God will give you as a possession, 2Lit and it shall be for every manslayer to flee thereso that any manslayer may flee there.

4 “ANum 35:9-34Now this is the case of the manslayer who may flee there and live: when he 1Lit smiteskills his friend 2Lit without knowledgeunintentionally, 3Lit and he was not hating him previouslynot hating him previously— 5 as when a man goes into the forest with his friend to cut wood, and his hand 1Lit is thrust withswings the axe to cut down the tree, and the iron head slips off the 2Lit woodhandle and 3Lit findsstrikes his friend so that he dies—he may flee to one of these cities and live; 6 otherwise the avenger of blood might pursue the manslayer 1Lit while his heart is hotin the heat of his anger, and overtake him, because the way is long, and 2Lit smite him in the soultake his life, though he was not deserving of death, since he had not hated him previously. 7  “Therefore, I command you, saying, ‘You shall set aside three cities for yourself.’

8 “If the Loʀᴅ your God AGen 15:18enlarges your territory, just as He has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land which He 1Lit spokepromised to give your fathers— 9 if you 1Lit keep...to do itcarefully observe all this commandment which I command you today, ADeut 6:5to love the Loʀᴅ your God, and to walk in His ways always—BJosh 20:7then you shall add three more cities for yourself, besides these three. 10  “So innocent blood will not be shed in the midst of your land which the Loʀᴅ your God gives you as an inheritance, and ANum 35:33; Deut 21:1-9bloodguiltiness be on you.

11 “But AEx 21:12; Num 35:16; 1 John 3:15if there is a man who hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and rises up against him and strikes 1Lit him in the soulhim so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities, 12 then the elders of his city shall send and take him from there and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die. 13  “1Lit Your eyeADeut 7:2You shall not pity him, but B1 Kin 2:31you shall purge the blood of the innocent from Israel, that it may go well with you.

14 “ADeut 27:17; Job 24:2; Prov 22:28; Hos 5:10You shall not move your neighbor’s boundary mark, which the ancestors have set, in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land that the Loʀᴅ your God gives you to 1Lit possess itpossess.

15 “ANum 35:30; Deut 17:6; Matt 18:16; John 8:17; 2 Cor 13:1; 1 Tim 5:19; Heb 10:28A single witness shall not rise up against a man on account of any iniquity or any sin 1Lit in any sin, which he sinswhich he has committed; on the 2Lit mouth of two witnesses, or by the mouth of threeevidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed. 16  “AEx 23:1; Ps 27:12If a malicious witness rises up against a man to 1Lit testify againstaccuse him of 2Lit turning asidewrongdoing, 17 then both the men who have the dispute shall stand ADeut 17:9before the Loʀᴅ, before the priests and the judges who will be in office in those days. 18  “The judges ADeut 25:1shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is a false witness and he has 1Lit testified againstaccused his brother falsely, 19 then AProv 19:5you shall do to him just as he had intended to do to his brother. Thus you shall purge the evil from among you. 20  “ADeut 17:13; 21:21The rest will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such an evil thing among you. 21  “Thus 1Lit your eyeADeut 19:13you shall not show pity: BEx 21:23; Lev 24:20life for life, CMatt 5:38eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.