Deuteronomy 19:21

And thine eye shall not pity; but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Deuteronomy 19:21. An eye for an eye — What punishment the law allotted to the accused, if he had been convicted, the same was the false accuser to bear.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

19:15-21 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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See the marginal references.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

De 19:16-21. Punishment of a False Witness.

16-21. But if convicted of perjury, it will be sufficient for his own condemnation, and his punishment shall be exactly the same as would have overtaken the object of his malignant prosecution. (See on [158]Ex 21:23; see also Le 24:20).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

What punishment he intended or the law allotted to the accused, if he had been convicted, the same shall the false accuser bear. Of this law see on Exodus 21:23 Leviticus 24:20

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And thine eye shall not pity,.... The false witness when convicted; this is directed to the judges, who should not spare such an one through favour or affection, but pronounce a righteous sentence on him, and see it executed, in proportion to the crime, and that according to the law of retaliation:

but life shall go for life; in such a case where the life of a person must have gone, if the falsehood of the testimony had not been discovered, the false witness must suffer death; in other cases, where a member would have been lost, or the price of it paid for, the same penalty was to be inflicted:

eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot; that is, the price of an eye an eye, &c. see Exodus 21:23.

Geneva Study Bible

And thine eye shall not pity; but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

21. thine eye shall not pity] See on Deuteronomy 19:13, Deuteronomy 7:16.

life for life, etc.] The jus talionis, more fully in E, Exodus 21:24 f.; cp. H, Leviticus 24:18; Leviticus 24:20. Very frequently in the Code of Ḫammurabi. See further Driver’s note on Exodus 21:25.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 21. - The lex talionis was in this case to be observed (cf. Exodus 21:23; Leviticus 24:20). Practically, however, a pecuniary compensation might be accepted for the offence (cf. Josephus, 'Antiq.,' 4:8, 35).



Deuteronomy 19:21

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The lex talionis was to be applied without reserve (see at Exodus 21:23; Leviticus 24:20). According to Diod. Sic. (i. 77), the same law existed in Egypt with reference to false accusers.