Cities of Refuge for the Innocent
19 1 When your Father cuts off the nations whose land your Father is giving you, and you dispossess them and settle in their cities and houses, 2 you shall set apart three cities for yourself in the midst of your land, which your Father is giving you to possess. 3 Prepare the roads for yourself and divide the territory of the land your Father gives you to inherit into three parts, so that anyone who kills someone can flee there.
4 This is the case of the one who kills another and flees there to live: anyone who strikes his neighbor unintentionally, having had no hatred for him in the past— 5 as when someone goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and swings the axe to cut down a tree, and the iron head slips off the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies—he may flee to one of these cities and live.
6 Otherwise the avenger of blood might pursue the killer while his anger is hot, and overtake him because the road is long, and strike him down—though he did not deserve to die, since he had not hated his neighbor in the past. 1 1 v6 The avenger of blood was the slain person's nearest relative, expected by ancient custom to pursue the killer; the cities of refuge guarded the accidental killer from this vengeance until a fair trial. 7 Therefore I command you: set apart three cities for yourself.
8 And if your Father enlarges your territory, as he swore to your ancestors, and gives you all the land he promised to give them— 9 if you carefully keep all this command that I am giving you today—to love your Father and to walk in his ways always—then you shall add three more cities to these three, 10 so that innocent blood may not be shed in the midst of your land, which your Father is giving you as an inheritance, and so that guilt for bloodshed may not come upon you.
11 But if a man hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him, attacks him and strikes him down so that he dies, and then flees to one of these cities, 12 the elders of his city shall send and bring him back from there, and hand him over to the avenger of blood, so that he dies. 13 Show him no pity. Purge the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, so that it may go well with you.
Honor Your Neighbor's Boundary
14 You shall not move your neighbor's boundary marker, set up by those who came before, in the inheritance you receive in the land your Father is giving you to possess.
The Weight of Two or Three Witnesses
15 One witness alone is not enough to convict anyone of any wrongdoing or sin, whatever the offense. A charge must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.
16 If a malicious witness comes forward against someone to accuse him of wrongdoing, 17 then both men in the dispute shall stand before your Father, before the priests and the judges who are in office in those days. 18 The judges shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is a false witness, having accused his brother falsely, 19 then you shall do to him as he meant to do to his brother. So you shall purge the evil from your midst. 20 Then the rest will hear and be afraid, and they will never again do such an evil thing in your midst. 21 Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.