Deuteronomy19
New American Standard
1“When the Lord your God cuts off the nations whose land the Lord your God is giving you, and you dispossess them and settle in their cities and in their houses,
2you shall set aside for yourself three cities in the midst of your land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess.
3You shall prepare the roads for yourself, and divide into three regions the territory of your land which the Lord your God will give you as an inheritance, so that anyone who commits manslaughter may flee there.
4“Now this is the case of the one who commits manslaughter, who may flee there and live: when he kills his friend unintentionally, not hating him previously—
5as when a person goes into the forest with his friend to cut wood, and his hand swings the axe to cut down the tree, and the iron head slips off the handle and strikes his friend so that he dies—he may flee to one of these cities and live.
6Otherwise, the avenger of blood might pursue him in the heat of his anger, and overtake him because the way is long, and take his life, though he was not sentenced to death since he had not hated him previously.
7Therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall set aside for yourself three cities.’
8“And if the Lord your God enlarges your territory, just as He has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land that He promised to give your fathers—
9if you carefully follow all of this commandment which I am commanding you today, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in His ways always—then you shall add three more cities for yourself, besides these three.
10So innocent blood will not be shed in the midst of your land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and guilt for bloodshed will not be on you.
11“But if there is a person who hates his neighbor, and waits in ambush for him and rises up against him and strikes him so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities,
12then the elders of his city shall send men and take him from there, and hand him over to the avenger of blood, so that he may die.
13You shall not pity him, but you shall eliminate the guilt for the bloodshed of the innocent from Israel, so that it may go well for you.
14“You shall not displace your neighbor’s boundary marker, which the ancestors have set, in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess.
15“A single witness shall not rise up against a person regarding any wrongdoing or any sin that he commits; on the testimony of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed.
16If a malicious witness rises up against a person to testify against him of wrongdoing,
17then both people who have the dispute shall stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who will be in office in those days.
18And the judges shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is a false witness and he has testified against his brother falsely,
19then you shall do to him just as he had planned to do to his brother. So you shall eliminate the evil from among you.
20And the rest of the people will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such an evil thing among you.
21So you shall not show pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Deuteronomy 19.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: The cities of refuge, The man-slayer, The murderer. (1–13). Landmarks not to be removed. (14). The punishment of false witnesses. (15–21).
vv1-13
Here is the law settled between the blood of the murdered, and the blood of the murderer; provision is made, that the cities of refuge should be a protection, so that a man should not die for that as a crime, which was not his willing act. In Christ, the Lord our Righteousness, refuge is provided for those who by faith flee unto him. But there is no refuge in Jesus Christ for presumptuous sinners, who go on still in their trespasses. Those who flee to Christ from their sins, shall be safe in him, but not those who expect to be sheltered by him in their sins.
v14
Direction is given to fix landmarks in Canaan. It is the will of God that every one should know his own; and that means should be used to hinder the doing and suffering of wrong. This, without doubt, is a moral precept, and still binding. Let every man be content with his own lot, and be just to his neighbours in all things.
vv15-21
Sentence should never be passed upon the testimony of one witness alone. A false witness should suffer the same punishment which he sought to have inflicted upon the person he accused. Nor could any law be more just. Let all Christians not only be cautious in bearing witness in public, but be careful not to join in private slanders; and let all whose consciences accuse them of crime, without delay flee for refuge to the hope set before them in Jesus Christ.
Key Words
אֱלֹהִים: gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative
כָּרַת: to cut (off, down or asunder); by implication, to destroy or consume; specifically, to covenant (i.e. make an alliance or bargain, originally by cutting flesh and passing between the pieces)
גּוֹי: a foreign nation; hence, a Gentile; also (figuratively) a troop of animals, or a flight of locusts
אֲשֶׁר: who, which, what, that; also (as an adverb and a conjunction) when, where, how, because, in order that, etc.
אֶרֶץ: the earth (at large, or partitively a land)
נָתַן: to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make, etc.)
יָרַשׁ: to occupy (by driving out previous tenants, and possessing in their place); by implication, to seize, to rob, to inherit; also to expel, to impoverish, to ruin
יָשַׁב: properly, to sit down (specifically as judge. in ambush, in quiet); by implication, to dwell, to remain; causatively, to settle, to marry
עִיר: a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the widest sense (even of a mere encampment or post)
בַּיִת: a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etc.)
Cross References
Deuteronomy 19Establishes the foundation of lex talionis (life for life, eye for eye) for civil justice.
Supported by JFB
Expressly forbids removing ancient landmarks, reinforcing the permanence of ancestral property boundaries.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Condemns the wicked who remove landmarks, demonstrating the moral weight of this law.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Prophetic warning comparing the princes of Judah to those who remove landmarks.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Direct law parallel for retribution of injuries, specifying eye for eye, tooth for tooth.
Supported by JFB
Specifies setting aside three cities beyond Jordan and three in Canaan.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Records Moses already setting apart the first three cities east of Jordan.
Supported by JFB
The historical fulfillment of setting apart the remaining three cities west of Jordan.
Supported by JFB
The original Abrahamic covenant promise regarding the full enlargement of Israel's borders.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Reiterates the promised enlargement of Israel's border to the River Euphrates.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Christ applies the two-or-three witnesses rule to church discipline.
Paul cites this law to establish judicial order in spiritual matters.
Contrasts accidental manslaughter with premeditated murder, where the killer is dragged from God's altar.
Pronounces a formal curse on anyone who removes their neighbor's landmark.
Applies the witness rule to show the severity of rejecting Moses' law.