19:1 When the LORD your God cuts off the nations whose land he¹ is about to give you and you dispossess them and settle in their cities and buildings, 19:2 you must separate off for yourselves three cities² in the midst of your land which he³ is giving you as a possession. 19:3 You shall build a⁴ roadway and divide into thirds the whole extent⁵ of your land that he⁶ is providing as your inheritance; any killer should be able to flee there. 19:4 Now this is the circumstance⁷ of the killer who flees there in order to live, one who has inadvertently slain his friend, not having hated him in the past. 19:5 For example,⁸ he goes with his friend to the forest to cut wood and, raising his hand with the axe⁹ to cut the tree, the axe flies loose¹⁰ from the handle and strikes¹¹ his friend so that he dies. He may then flee to one of these cities to save himself.¹² 19:6 Otherwise¹³ the blood avenger will chase after the killer in the heat of his anger¹⁴ and will overtake him because of the long distance and will kill him,¹⁵ though this is not a capital case¹⁶ since he did not hate him formerly. 19:7 Therefore, I am commanding you to set apart for yourselves three cities. 19:8 If the LORD your God should enlarge your borders as he promised your ancestors and should give you all the land he pledged to them,¹⁷ 19:9 and then you are careful to observe the whole commandment¹⁸ I am giving you today, namely, to love him¹⁹ and to walk forever in his ways, then you will add three more cities²⁰ to these three. 19:10 So, you must not shed innocent blood²¹ in the midst of your land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance and thus be guilty of injustice.²² 19:11 If, however, a person hates his neighbor and then lies in wait for him, rises up and kills him,²³ and flees to one of these cities, 19:12 the elders of his city shall send for him and remove him from there to deliver him over to the blood avenger²⁴ to die. 19:13 You must not pity him but purge out the blood of the innocent²⁵ from Israel that it might go well with you.

19:14 You must not encroach upon your neighbor’s property²⁶ which will have been defined from the first²⁷ in the inheritance you will obtain in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess. 19:15 A single witness may not testify²⁸ against another for any trespass or sin—any whatsoever²⁹—that he may have committed.³⁰ A matter may be legal³¹ only upon the testimony of two or three witnesses. 19:16 If a false³² witness should take the stand³³ against another³⁴ to accuse him of rebellion, 19:17 then both parties³⁵ to the controversy must stand before the LORD, that is, before the priests and judges³⁶ who will be in office in those days. 19:18 The judges will seek the truth³⁷ in the matter and if the witness should prove to be false and has given false testimony against the accused,³⁸ 19:19 you must do to him what he had intended to do to the accused;³⁹ thus you will purge⁴⁰ evil from among you. 19:20 The survivors will hear and become afraid to keep doing such evil among you. 19:21 You must not react with pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.⁴¹