Deḇarim (Deuteronomy) 19
19
1When יהוה your Elohim cuts off the nations whose land יהוה your Elohim is giving you, and you dispossess them and dwell in their cities and in their houses,”
2separate three cities for yourself in the midst of your land which יהוה your Elohim is giving you to possess.
3“Prepare a way for yourself, and divide into three parts the border of your land which יהוה your Elohim is giving you to inherit, that any man-slayer shall flee there.
4And this matter of the man-slayer who flees there and lives: he who strikes his neighbour unknowingly, not having hated him in time past,”
5even he who goes to the forest with his neighbour to cut timber, and his hand swings a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbour so that he dies – let him flee to one of these cities and live,
6lest the revenger of blood, while his displeasure is hot, pursue the man-slayer and overtake him, because the way is long, and shall strike his being, though he was not worthy of death, since he had not hated him before.
7“Therefore I am commanding you, saying, ‘Separate three cities for yourself.’
8And if יהוה your Elohim enlarges your border, as He swore to your fathers, and has given you the land which He promised to give to your fathers - ”
9when you guard all this command to do it, which I am commanding you today, to love יהוה your Elohim and to walk in His ways all the days – then you shall add three more cities for yourself besides these three,
10so that innocent blood is not shed in the midst of your land which יהוה your Elohim is giving you as an inheritance, or blood-guilt shall be upon you.
11“But when anyone hates his neighbour, and shall lie in wait for him and rise against him and strike his being so that he dies, then he shall flee to one of these cities,
12and the elders of his city shall send and bring him from there, and give him into the hand of the revenger of blood, and he shall die.
13“Your eye shall not pardon him, but you shall purge the blood of innocent blood from Yisra’ĕl, so that it might be well with you.
14“Do not remove your neighbour’s boundary, which those in the past have set, in your inheritance which you inherit in the land that יהוה your Elohim is giving you to possess.
15“One witness does not rise up against a man concerning any crookedness or any sin that he commits. At the mouth of two witnesses or at the mouth of three witnesses a matter is established.
16“When a malicious witness rises up against any man to accuse him of turning aside,
17then both men who have the dispute shall stand before יהוה, before the priests and the judges who serve in those days.
18And the judges shall diligently search and see if the witness is a false witness, who has falsely accused his brother,”
19then you shall do to him as he thought to have done to his brother. Thus you shall purge the evil from your midst.
20“And let the rest hear and fear, and never again do this evil matter in your midst.
21“And let your eye not pardon, life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
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Deḇarim (Deuteronomy) 19: TS2009
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Deuteronomy 19
19
1 "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 you shall separate for yourselves three cities in the midst of the land, which the Lord will give to you as a possession,
3 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 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 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 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 reason, I instruct you to separate three cities at equal distance from one another.
8 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 (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 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 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 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 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 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 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 If a lying witness will have stood against a man, accusing him of a transgression,
17 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 when, after a very diligent examination, they will have found that the false witness had told a lie against his brother,
19 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 Then the others, upon hearing this, will be afraid, and they will by no means dare to do such things.
21 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."
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