Deuteronomy 19

God our God will destroy the people groups from the land that he is giving to you. You will drive them out from their towns and you start to live in their homes. After that,

you must divide into three parts the land that God is giving to you. Then select a city in each part. You must make good roads {in order that people can get to those cities easily}. Someone who kills another person can escape to one of those cities to be safe. \*

This is the rule for someone who has killed another person. If someone accidentally kills another person who was not his enemy, he may escape to one of those cities and be safe.

There could be a case where two men go into the forest to cut some wood. The ax head might come off the handle while one of the men cuts wood. Then, the ax head might hit and kill the other man. In that case, the man who was using the ax may run to one of those cities and be safe there. {The people of that city will protect him.} \*

{If there were only one city for the killer to run to,} the killer could be very far away from a safe city. A judge may decide not to execute the killer because the killing was an accident. Then, a relative of the victim may seek revenge and kill the man in anger before the man can arrive at a safe city.

Therefore, I order you to choose three cities {for this purpose}. \*

Do everything that I am today commanding you to do. Love God our God and obey his instructions continually. If you do that, God our God will give you much more land {than you will have when you first inhabit the land}. You will receive all the land according to what he promised your ancestors. When that happens, select three more cities {in the new land for people to escape to}.

As a result, innocent people will not die, and you will not be guilty for allowing them to die in the land that God is giving to you. \*

In a case where someone hates another person, he might hide and wait for this person to pass by. Then, he might attack and murder this person. In this situation, if the attacker flees to one of those cities,

the elders of the murderer’s hometown {are responsible for punishing him. They} must send someone to the city where the murderer is hiding and arrest him. Then they must bring him to the victim’s relative who is responsible for avenging the murder so that the relative may execute the murderer.

Do not pity killers! {Instead, you must execute them.} This is so that you Israelites will not be responsible for the deaths of innocent people. This is also so that you may prosper. \*

In the land that God is giving you, your ancestors placed stones to mark the borders of properties. When you occupy that land, do not move those markers. \*

When someone accuses another person of any kind of wrong activity or of sinning in any way, one person who says, ‘I saw him do it’ is not enough {to convict him}. There must be at least two or three people who say that they saw him do it in order for the judge to accept that what he says is true.

Suppose that someone falsely testifies that they saw a man sin. \*

Both the accuser and the accused must go to the place of worship. There, they must talk to the priests and judges who are serving at that time.

The judges must investigate the case carefully. If the judges discover that one man falsely testified against the other,

then the people must punish the false witness. The punishment must be the same as the punishment he suggested for the man that he accused. As a result, you will make sure no one from Israel does this evil action. \*

The rest of the Israelites will learn about the punishment. They will be afraid of the punishment, so they will not testify falsely.

Do not pity that person. If he killed someone, you must kill him. In the same way, {if he harmed} someone’s eye, tooth, hand, or foot, {you must cause the same harm to him}. \*