Deuteronomy 19

1 When Yahweh thy God, shall cut off the nations whose land Yahweh thy God is giving thee, —and thou shalt dispossess them, and dwell in their cities and in their houses,

“When the Lord your God will have destroyed the nations, whose land he will deliver to you, and when you possess it and live in its cities and buildings,

2 three cities, shalt thou set apart for thee, —in the midst of thy land which Yahweh thy God is giving thee to possess.

you shall separate for yourselves three cities in the midst of the land, which the Lord will give to you as a possession,

3 Thou shalt prepare for thee a way, and shalt divide into three parts the boundary of thy land which Yahweh thy God shall cause thee to inherit, —and it shall be that every manslayer shall flee thither.

paving the road carefully. And you shall divide the entire province of your land equally into three parts, so that he who is forced to flee because of manslaughter may have a place nearby to which he may be able to escape.

4 And, this, is the case of the manslayer, who shall flee thither and live, —Whoso shall smite his neighbour unwittingly, he, not having hated him aforetime;

This shall be the law of the killer who flees, whose life is to be saved. Whoever strikes down his neighbor unwillingly, and who has been proven to have had no hatred against him yesterday and the day before,

5 as when one entereth with his neighbour into a forest, to fell trees, and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe, to cut down the tree, and the head flieth off from the handle, and lighteth upon his neighbour, that he die, he, shall flee into one of these cities, and live;

such that he had gone with him into the forest simply to cut wood, and in cutting down the tree, the axe slipped from his hand, or the iron slipped from the handle, and it struck his friend and killed him: he shall flee to one of the cities stated above, and he shall live.

6 lest the blood redeemer pursue the manslayer because his heart is hot, and overtake him because the way is long, and he smite him so as to take away his life, —he not being worthy of death, seeing that he had not been hating him aforetime.

Otherwise, perhaps the near relative of him whose blood was shed, impelled by his grief, might pursue and apprehend him, unless the way is too long, and he might strike down the life of him who is not guilty unto death, since he had demonstrated that he had no prior hatred against him who was slain.

7 For this cause, am I commanding thee saying, —Three cities, shalt thou set apart for thee.

For this reason, I instruct you to separate three cities at equal distance from one another.

8 But, if Yahweh thy God should enlarge thy bounds, as he sware unto thy fathers, —and should give thee all the land, which he spake of giving unto thy fathers;

And when the Lord your God will have enlarged your borders, just as he swore to your fathers, and when he will have given to you all the land that he has promised to them,

9 because thou dost observe all this commandment to do it which I am commanding thee to-day, to love Yahweh thy God and to walk in his paths all the days, then shalt thou add unto thee yet three cities, unto these three;

(but this is only so if you will keep his commandments and do the things which I instruct to you this day, so that you love the Lord your God, and walk in his ways at all times) you shall add for yourselves three other cities, and so you shall double the number of the three cities stated above.

10 that innocent blood may not be shed in the midst of thy land, which Yahweh thy God is giving unto thee as an inheritance, —and so shed-blood be upon thee.

So may innocent blood not be shed in the midst of the land which the Lord your God will give you to possess, lest you be guilty of blood.

11 But, when any man shall be hating his neighbour, and shall lie in wait for him and rise up against him, and smite him so as to take away his life that he dieth, —and shall then flee into one of these cities,

But if anyone, having hatred for his neighbor, will have lain in ambush for his life, and, rising up, will have struck him, and he will have died, and if he will have fled to one of the cities stated above,

12 then shall the elders of his city send and fetch him from thence, —and deliver him into the hand of the blood redeemer that he die;

the elders of his city shall send, and they shall take him from the place of refuge, and they shall deliver him into the hand of the relative of him whose blood was shed, and he shall die.

13 thine eye shall not look with pity upon him, —so shall thou consume the shedding of innocent blood out of Israel and it shall go well with thee.

You shall not take pity on him, and so shall you take away the blood of the innocent from Israel, so that it may be well with you.

14 Thou shalt not move back the boundary of thy neighbour, by which they set bounds at first, —in thine inheritance which thou shall receive in the land which Yahweh thy God is giving thee to possess.

You shall not take up or move the landmark of your neighbor, which those before you have placed, in your possession that the Lord your God will give to you, in the land you will receive to possess.

15 One witness, shall not rise up, against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, with regard to any sin that he may commit, —at the mouth of two witnesses or at the mouth of three witnesses, must a matter be establish.

One witness shall not stand against another, no matter what the sin or outrage may be. For every word shall stand by the mouth of two or three witnesses.

16 When there shall rise up a wrongful witness against a man, —to answer against him perversely,

If a lying witness will have stood against a man, accusing him of a transgression,

17 then shall the two men who are at variance stand before Yahweh, —before the priests and the judges who shall be in those days;

both of those whose case it is shall stand before the Lord in the sight of the priests and the judges who shall be in those days.

18 and the judges shall make diligent inquisition, —and lo! if the witness be, a false witness and, falsely, have answered against his brother,

And when, after a very diligent examination, they will have found that the false witness had told a lie against his brother,

19 then shall ye do unto him as he had thought to de unto his brother, —so shalt thou consume the wicked thing out of thy midst;

they shall render to him just as he intended to do to his brother. And so shall you take away the evil from your midst.

20 and, they who remain shall hear and fear, —and not go on to do again according to this wicked thing, in thy midst:

Then the others, upon hearing this, will be afraid, and they will by no means dare to do such things.

21 neither shall thine eye pity, —life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

You shall not take pity on him. Instead, you shall require a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot.”