Deuteronomy 19
All 21 verses in the Clear Bible Translation. Tap a verse to compare the KJV and read what it means.
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- 1When the LORD your God has cut off the nations whose land the LORD your God is giving you, and you take their place and dwell in their cities and in their houses,
- 2you must set apart 3 cities in the middle of the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess.
- 3Prepare a road and divide the land the LORD your God is giving you to inherit into three parts, so that every slayer may flee there.
- 4Here is the kind of situation where someone may flee to one of these cities and be allowed to live: a person who kills his neighbor by accident, with no prior hatred between them.
- 5As when a man goes into the woods with his neighbor to cut wood, and his hand swings the axe to cut down the tree, the head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies, he is to flee to 1 of those cities and live:
- 6Otherwise, the avenger of the blood might pursue the slayer while his heart is hot, overtake him because the way is long, and kill him, although he was not worthy of death because he had not hated him in the past.
- 7That is why I'm commanding you to set apart 3 cities.
- 8And if the LORD your God expands your territory, just as he swore to your ancestors, and gives you all the land he promised them —
- 9which he will do if you carefully obey everything I'm commanding you today, loving the LORD your God and always walking in his ways — then you must add 3 more cities of refuge beyond the first 3.
- 10Do this so that innocent blood won't be shed in the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance. Otherwise, you will bear the guilt for that blood.
- 11But suppose a man hates his neighbor, ambushes him, attacks him, and strikes him dead — then flees to one of these cities of refuge.
- 12The elders of his hometown must send for him, bring him back from that city, and hand him over to the avenger of blood to be put to death.
- 13Don't feel sorry for him. You must purge the guilt of innocent blood from Israel so that things will go well for you.
- 14Don't move your neighbor's boundary markers. Previous generations set them in place to mark the inheritance you'll receive in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess.
- 15A single witness isn't enough to convict someone of any crime or sin, no matter what it is. A charge must be confirmed by the testimony of 2 or 3 witnesses.
- 16If a witness comes forward and falsely accuses someone of a crime,
- 17both the accuser and the accused must appear before the LORD — standing before the priests and judges serving at that time.
- 18The judges must make a thorough investigation. If the witness is found to be a false witness who testified falsely against his brother,
- 19then you must do to the liar whatever he intended to have done to the accused. In this way, you will purge the evil from among you.
- 20Everyone else will hear about it and be afraid, and no one will ever dare to do something that evil among you again.
- 21Show no pity in such cases. The penalty must be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.