Deuteronomy19
New International Version
1When the Lord your God has destroyed the nations whose land he is giving you, and when you have driven them out and settled in their towns and houses,
2then set aside for yourselves three cities in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess.
3Determine the distances involved and divide into three parts the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, so that a person who kills someone may flee for refuge to one of these cities.
4This is the rule concerning anyone who kills a person and flees there for safety—anyone who kills a neighbor unintentionally, without malice aforethought.
5For instance, a man may go into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and as he swings his ax to fell a tree, the head may fly off and hit his neighbor and kill him. That man may flee to one of these cities and save his life.
6Otherwise, the avenger of blood might pursue him in a rage, overtake him if the distance is too great, and kill him even though he is not deserving of death, since he did it to his neighbor without malice aforethought.
7This is why I command you to set aside for yourselves three cities.
8If the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as he promised on oath to your ancestors, and gives you the whole land he promised them,
9because you carefully follow all these laws I command you today—to love the Lord your God and to walk always in obedience to him—then you are to set aside three more cities.
10Do this so that innocent blood will not be shed in your land, which the Lord your God is giving you as your inheritance, and so that you will not be guilty of bloodshed.
11But if out of hate someone lies in wait, assaults and kills a neighbor, and then flees to one of these cities,
12the killer shall be sent for by the town elders, be brought back from the city, and be handed over to the avenger of blood to die.
13Show no pity. You must purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, so that it may go well with you.
14Do not move your neighbor’s boundary stone set up by your predecessors in the inheritance you receive in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess.
15One witness is not enough to convict anyone accused of any crime or offense they may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.
16If a malicious witness takes the stand to accuse someone of a crime,
17the two people involved in the dispute must stand in the presence of the Lord before the priests and the judges who are in office at the time.
18The judges must make a thorough investigation, and if the witness proves to be a liar, giving false testimony against a fellow Israelite,
19then do to the false witness as that witness intended to do to the other party. You must purge the evil from among you.
20The rest of the people will hear of this and be afraid, and never again will such an evil thing be done among you.
21Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, 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.