Deuteronomy 19:1-13

Legacy Standard Bible

Statutes About Cities of Refuge

19 “^(A)When Yahweh your God cuts off the nations, whose land Yahweh your God gives you, and you dispossess them and settle in their cities and in their houses, ^2 (B)you shall set apart three cities for yourself in the midst of your land, which Yahweh your God gives you to ^[a]possess. ³ You shall prepare the ^[b]roads for yourself, and divide into three parts the territory of your land which Yahweh your God will give you to inherit, ^[c]so that any manslayer may flee there.

⁴ “^(C)Now this is the case of the manslayer who may flee there and live: when he strikes down his friend ^[d]without premeditation, ^[e]not hating him previously— ⁵ as when a man goes into the forest with his friend to cut wood, and his hand ^[f]swings the axe to cut down the tree, and the iron head slips off the ^[g]handle and ^[h]strikes his friend so that he dies—he may flee to one of these cities and live; ⁶ lest the avenger of blood pursue the manslayer when his heart is ^[i]angry, and overtake him, because the way is long, and ^[j]strike down his life, though he was not deserving of death, since he had not hated him previously. ⁷ Therefore, I am commanding you, saying, ‘You shall set apart three cities for yourself.’

⁸ “Now if Yahweh your God ^(D)enlarges your territory, just as He has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land which He ^[k]promised to give to your fathers— ⁹ if you ^[l]be careful to do all this commandment which I am commanding you today, ^(E)to love Yahweh your God and to walk in His ways all your days—^(F)then you shall add three more cities for yourself, besides these three. ¹⁰ So innocent blood will not be shed in the midst of your land which Yahweh your God gives you as an inheritance, and ^(G)bloodguiltiness be on you.

¹¹ “But ^(H)if there is a man who hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and rises up against him and strikes down ^[m]his life so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities, ¹² then the elders of his city shall send and take him from there and give him over into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die. ^13 [n](I)You shall not pity him, but ^(J)you shall purge the blood of the innocent from Israel, that it may go well with you.