Deuteronomy 19

1 When the LORD your God has cut off the nations whose land He is giving you, and when you have driven them out and settled in their cities and houses, 2 then you are to set apart for yourselves three cities within the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess. 3 You are to build roads for yourselves and divide into three regions the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, so that any manslayer can flee to these cities. 4 Now this is the situation regarding the manslayer who flees to one of these cities to save his life, having killed his neighbor accidentally, without intending to harm him: 5 If he goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut timber and swings his axe to chop down a tree, but the blade flies off the handle and strikes and kills his neighbor, he may flee to one of these cities to save his life. 6 Otherwise, the avenger of blood might pursue the manslayer in a rage, overtake him if the distance is great, and strike him dead though he did not deserve to die, since he did not intend any harm. 7 This is why I am commanding you to set apart for yourselves three cities. 8 And if the LORD your God enlarges your territory, as He swore to your fathers, and gives you all the land He promised them, 9 and if you carefully keep all these commandments I am giving you today, loving the LORD your God and walking in His ways at all times, then you are to add three more cities to these three. 10 Thus innocent blood will not be shed in the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, so that you will not be guilty of bloodshed. 11 If, however, a man hates his neighbor and lies in wait, attacks him and kills him, and then flees to one of these cities, 12 the elders of his city must send for him, bring him back, and hand him over to the avenger of blood to die. 13 You must show him no pity. You are to purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, that it may go well with you. 14 You must not move your neighbor ’s boundary marker, which was set up by your ancestors to mark the inheritance you shall receive in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess. The Testimony of Two or Three Witnesses (Matthew 18:15–20) 15 A lone witness is not sufficient to establish any wrongdoing or sin against a man, regardless of what offense he may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. 16 If a false witness testifies against someone, accusing him of a crime, 17 both parties to the dispute must stand in the presence of the LORD, before the priests and judges who are in office at that time. 18 The judges shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is proven to be a liar who has falsely accused his brother, 19 you must do to him as he intended to do to his brother. So you must purge the evil from among you. 20 Then the rest of the people will hear and be afraid, and they will never again do anything so evil among you. 21 You must show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot.

✦ What the text says

## Summary Deuteronomy 19 legislates cities of refuge (*'arim*, H5892B) for a person who kills unintentionally, distinguishes such a *rotzeach* ("killer/manslayer", H7523) from one who kills out of hatred, forbids moving a neighbor's boundary marker, and sets the requirement of two or three witnesses for any accusation, with a penalty for false witnesses and a closing formula of reciprocal punishment. ## Key words - *rotzeach* ("killer", H7523) — a qal participle, "the one who kills"; used both for the accidental slayer (vv.3-5) and, implicitly, contrasted with the hater who ambushes (v.11). - *go'el ha-dam* ("avenger of the blood", H1350H + H1818) — a qal participle in construct, "the one who redeems/avenges," designating the kinsman legally entitled to execute vengeance if the killer is not protected. - *tasig* ("you will displace", H5253) — hiphil imperfect, causative "cause to move back/encroach," applied to boundary markers (*gevul*, H1366G/H) in v.14. - *'ed* ("witness", H5707) — appears in the singular (v.15, insufficient alone) and doubled/tripled (*shenei 'edim*, *shelosha 'edim*, "two witnesses," "three witnesses") to establish a matter (*davar*, H1697G). - *tachos* ("it will look with pity", H2347) — qal imperfect with subject *'ayin* ("eye", H5869A), repeated in vv.13 and 21, "your eye will not pity," negating compassion toward the guilty. ## What the text says The chapter opens with sequential perfects (*ve-yashavta*, *ve-yarashtam*) chaining the narrative of settlement to the legal provision that follows: once Yahweh (*Yahweh*, H3068G) "cuts off" (*yakhrit*, hiphil, H3772I) the nations, three cities must be "set apart" (*tavdil*, hiphil, H0914). The infinitive *lanus* ("to flee", H5127) with the participle *kol rotzeach* ("every killer") frames the cities' purpose. Verses 4-6 define the accidental killer through a chain of qal/niphal verbs describing an axe head slipping (*nashal*, H5394) — grammar that emphasizes unintended causation rather than agency. Verse 11 shifts to a deliberate killer using *sane'* ("hating", H8130, participle) and *arav lo* ("lay in wait for him", H0693), marking premeditation, and the sequential perfects *natenu oto be-yad go'el ha-dam va-met* hand him to the avenger "and he will die." The boundary-marker prohibition (v.14) uses the hiphil *tasig* to forbid causing displacement, contrasted with *gavelu rishonim* ("the ancestors set bounds", qal perfect). The witness law (vv.15-19) pairs *lo yaqum* ("it will not stand", H6965) with *yaqum davar* ("a matter will stand"), structurally opposing single testimony to plural testimony. The false-witness penalty is expressed with *ka'asher zamam* ("as he planned", H2161), applying the plotted harm back onto the accuser. ## Differences between versions The LXX renders *go'el ha-dam* as "the ones avenging the blood" (plural, τῶν ἀγχιστευόντων) in v.12, where the Hebrew has a singular participle. In v.5, the Hebrew *ya'ar* ("forest", H3293A) appears in LXX as δρυμόν ("wood/thicket"), a close but not identical semantic match. The Vulgate in v.9 renders the conditional *ki tishmor* ("if you keep") as

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.