Deuteronomy 19

1 When the nations, whose land the Lord your God is giving you, have been cut off by him, and you have taken their place and are living in their towns and in their houses;

And when the Lord your God shall have destroyed the nations, which God gives you, [even] the land, and you shall inherit them, and dwell in their cities, and in their houses,

2 You are to have three towns marked out in the land which the Lord your God is giving you for your heritage.

you shall separate for yourself three cities in the midst of your land, which the Lord your God gives you.

3 You are to make ready a way, and see that the land which the Lord your God is giving you for your heritage, is marked out into three parts, to which any taker of life may go in flight.

Take a survey of your way, and you shall divide the coasts of your land, which the Lord your God apportions to you, into three parts, and there shall be there a refuge for every manslayer.

4 This is to be the rule for anyone who goes in flight there, after causing the death of his neighbour in error and not through hate;

And this shall be the ordinance of the manslayer, who shall flee there, and shall live, whoever shall have struck his neighbor ignorantly, whereas he hated him not in times past.

5 For example, if a man goes into the woods with his neighbour for the purpose of cutting down trees, and when he takes his axe to give a blow to the tree, the head of the axe comes off, and falling on to his neighbour gives him a wound causing his death; then the man may go in flight to one of these towns and be safe:

And whoever shall enter with his neighbor into the thicket, to gather wood, if the hand of him that cuts wood with the axe should be violently shaken, and the axe head falling off from the handle should light on his neighbor, and he should die, he shall flee to one of these cities, and live.

6 For if not, he who has the right of punishment may go running after the taker of life in the heat of his wrath, and overtake him because the way is long, and give him a death-blow; though it is not right for him to be put to death because he was not moved by hate.

Lest the avenger of blood pursue after the slayer, because his heart is hot, and overtake him, if the way be too long, and kill him, though there is to this man no sentence of death, because he hated him not in time past.

7 And so I am ordering you to see that three towns are marked out for this purpose.

Therefore I charge you, saying, You shall separate for your self three cities.

8 And if the Lord your God makes wide the limits of your land, as he said in his oath to your fathers, and gives you all the land which he undertook to give to your fathers;

And if the Lord shall enlarge your borders, as he sware to your fathers, and the Lord shall give to you all the land which he said he would give to your fathers;

9 If you keep and do all these orders which I give you today, loving the Lord your God and walking ever in his ways; then let three more towns, in addition to these three, be marked out for you:

if you shall listen to do all these commands, which I charge you this day, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways continually; you shall add for yourself yet three cities to these three.

10 So that in all your land, which the Lord your God is giving you for your heritage, no man may be wrongly put to death, for which you will be responsible.

So innocent blood shall not be spilt in the land, which the Lord your God gives you to inherit, and there shall not be in you one guilty of blood.

11 But if any man has hate for his neighbour, and waiting for him secretly makes an attack on him and gives him a blow causing his death, and then goes in flight to one of these towns;

But if there should be in you a man hating his neighbor, and he should lay wait for him, and rise up against him, and strike him, that he die, and he should flee to one of these cities,

12 The responsible men of his town are to send and take him, and give him up to the one who has the right of punishment to be put to death.

then shall the elders of his city send, and take him thence, and they shall deliver him into the hands of the avengers of blood, and he shall die.

13 Have no pity on him, so that Israel may be clear from the crime of putting a man to death without cause, and it will be well for you.

Your eye shall not spare him; so shall you purge innocent blood from Israel, and it shall be well with you.

14 Your neighbour's landmark, which was put in its place by the men of old times, is not to be moved or taken away in the land of your heritage which the Lord your God is giving you.

You shall not move the landmarks of your neighbor, which your fathers set in the inheritance, in which you have obtained a share in the land, which the Lord your God gives you to inherit.

15 One witness may not make a statement against a man in relation to any sin or wrongdoing which he has done: on the word of two or three witnesses a question is to be judged.

One witness shall not stand to testify against a man for any iniquity, or for any fault, or for any sin which he may commit; by the mouth of two witnesses, or by the mouth of three witnesses, shall every word be established.

16 If a false witness makes a statement against a man, saying that he has done wrong,

And if an unjust witness rise up against a man, alleging iniquity against him;

17 Then the two men, between whom the argument has taken place, are to come before the Lord, before the priests and judges who are then in power;

then shall the two men between whom the controversy is, stand before the Lord, and before the priests, and before the judges, who may be in those days.

18 And the judges will have the question looked into with care: and if the witness is seen to be false and to have made a false statement against his brother,

And the judges shall make diligent inquiry, and, behold, [if] and unjust witness has borne unjust testimony; [and] has stood up against his brother;

19 Then do to him what it was his purpose to do to his brother: and so put away the evil from among you.

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

20 And the rest of the people, hearing of it, will be full of fear, and never again do such evil among you.

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

21 Have no pity; let life be given for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Your eye shall not spare him: [you shall exact] life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.