Deuteronomy 19
19
Chapter 19
Rules about safe cities
1The Lord your God will destroy the nations who now live in the land that he is giving to you. You will chase them out and you will live in their cities and in their houses. 2-3Make the land into three separate regions. Then choose three special cities, one city in each region. #19:2-3 See Joshua 20:7-9. Build good roads to each city so that people can easily travel to them. Then anyone who kills a person can run to one of these cities to be safe.
4This is the rule when anyone has killed another person: If it was a mistake, he can run to a safe city. He can do that if he has killed someone that he did not already hate. 5For example, two men may go to the forest to cut wood. As one man cuts wood with his axe, the metal part of the axe flies off. It hits the other man and it kills him. Then the killer can run to the nearest of the three cities. He will be safe there.
6If there was no safe city near enough, the killer might not escape safely. The dead person's relative might chase him, catch him and kill him. #19:6 ‘The dead person's relative’ is the man from the dead person's family who has to get justice. But the killer did not deserve to die. He had made a mistake. He had killed someone that he did not already hate. 7So I command you to choose three cities to be safe cities for yourselves. #19:7 Moses had already chosen three cities on the east side of the Jordan River. So there would be six safe cities.
8The Lord your God promised your ancestors to give you more land to live in. When all that land belongs to you, 9you must continue to obey all the commands that I am giving you today. You must continue to love the Lord your God and live in a way that pleases him. Then, when your land becomes bigger, you must choose three more cities to be safe cities. 10You must not punish with death people who are not guilty. That would make you guilty yourselves. That must not happen in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
11But perhaps somebody does hate another person. He may hide himself so that he can catch his enemy. Then he may attack him and kill him. After that, he may run to one of the safe cities. 12If he does that, the leaders of his own town must fetch him back. They must bring him to the dead person's relative. He must die as his punishment. 13Do not be sorry for him. You must punish murderers with death. Then Israel will not be guilty of evil acts. If you do that, everything will be well for you.
More rules
14When you go to live in the land that the Lord your God is giving to you, each family will receive their piece of land. You must never move the stones that show the edge of your neighbour's land. It has always belonged to them.
15If only one person says that he has seen someone do something wrong, that is not enough. There must be at least two or three people who saw the sin. Then the judge may say that the person is guilty.
16Somebody may accuse another person because he wants to hurt him. He tells lies against him. 17Then both of them must stand in front of the judges that the Lord has chosen. Those are the priests and the judges who have authority at that time. 18The judges must be careful to discover who is telling the truth. The person may be speaking lies against another Israelite to accuse him. 19If he is telling lies, you must punish him in the same way that he wanted to punish the other Israelite. You must remove evil things like this from among yourselves. 20Then everyone else will hear what has happened. They will be afraid to do any more evil things like that. 21Do not be sorry for people who are guilty. Punish people as they deserve: 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. #19:21 See Exodus 21:23-25; Leviticus 24:19-20.
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Deuteronomy 19: EASY
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