| International Standard Version | NET Bible |
| 1"When the LORD your God destroys those nations whose lands he is about to give you, you must dispossess them and live in their cities and houses. | 1When the LORD your God destroys the nations whose land he is about to give you and you dispossess them and settle in their cities and houses, |
| 2You must reserve three cities within the land that the LORD your God is about to give you to possess. | 2you must set apart for yourselves three cities in the middle of your land that the LORD your God is giving you as a possession. |
| 3Build roads throughout the land that the LORD your God is providing as an inheritance, and then divide it into three districts so that any killer may flee there. | 3You shall build a roadway and divide into thirds the whole extent of your land that the LORD your God is providing as your inheritance; anyone who kills another person should flee to the closest of these cities. |
| 4"Now this is the situation for any killer who flees there to live: suppose he strikes his friend unwittingly, not having hated him previously. | 4Now this is the law pertaining to one who flees there in order to live, if he has accidentally killed another without hating him at the time of the accident. |
| 5For instance, he may have accompanied his friend to go to a forest to cut trees. Then he swung his axe to cut some wood, but the ax head flew off the handle and hit his friend, so that he died. The killer may flee to one of these cities to live. | 5Suppose he goes with someone else to the forest to cut wood and when he raises the ax to cut the tree, the ax head flies loose from the handle and strikes his fellow worker so hard that he dies. The person responsible may then flee to one of these cities to save himself. |
| 6While the distance may be great and the angry avenger pursues the killer, he may overtake him and kill him, in which case there will be no justice in his death, because he did not hate his friend previously. | 6Otherwise the blood avenger will chase after the killer in the heat of his anger, eventually overtake him, and kill him, though this is not a capital case since he did not hate him at the time of the accident. |
| 7Therefore I am commanding you to reserve three cities." | 7Therefore, I am commanding you to set apart for yourselves three cities. |
| 8"Now if the LORD enlarges your territories just as he promised your ancestors and gives you all the land that he promised, | 8If the LORD your God enlarges your borders as he promised your ancestors and gives you all the land he pledged to them, |
| 9and if you are careful to observe all these commands that I am commanding you today—to love the LORD your God and to walk daily in his ways—then add three more cities in addition to these three cities. | 9and then you are careful to observe all these commandments I am giving you today (namely, to love the LORD your God and to always walk in his ways), then you must add three more cities to these three. |
| 10You must not shed innocent blood on your land that the LORD your God is about to give you as an inheritance. Otherwise, you'll be guilty of murder." | 10You must not shed innocent blood in your land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, for that would make you guilty. |
| 11"However, if a person hates his neighbor, lies in wait for him, rises up against him, and attacks him so that he dies, and then he flees to one of those cities, | 11However, suppose a person hates someone else and stalks him, attacks him, kills him, and then flees to one of these cities. |
| 12then the elders of his own city shall send for him, remove him from there, and deliver him to the related avenger for execution. | 12The elders of his own city must send for him and remove him from there to deliver him over to the blood avenger to die. |
| 13Have no pity on him, but totally purge the shedding of innocent blood from Israel so that life may go well with you." | 13You must not pity him, but purge out the blood of the innocent from Israel, so that it may go well with you. |
| 14"When you inherit the land that the LORD your God is about to give you, don't move your neighbor's boundary marker from where it was placed long ago." | 14You must not encroach on your neighbor's property, which will have been defined in the inheritance you will obtain in the land the LORD your God is giving you. |
| 15"The testimony of one person alone is not to suffice to convict anyone of any iniquity, sin, or guilt. But the matter will stand on the testimony of two or three witnesses. | 15A single witness may not testify against another person for any trespass or sin that he commits. A matter may be legally established only on the testimony of two or three witnesses. |
| 16When a malicious witness takes the stand against a man and accuses him, | 16If a false witness testifies against another person and accuses him of a crime, |
| 17then both must stand with their dispute in the LORD's presence, the priests, and the judges at that time. | 17then both parties to the controversy must stand before the LORD, that is, before the priests and judges who will be in office in those days. |
| 18The judges will investigate thoroughly. If the false witness lies in testifying against his relative, | 18The judges will thoroughly investigate the matter, and if the witness should prove to be false and to have given false testimony against the accused, |
| 19do to him just as he intended to do to his relative. By doing this you will purge evil from your midst. | 19you must do to him what he had intended to do to the accused. In this way you will purge evil from among you. |
| 20When others hear of this, they will be afraid and will not do such an evil deed again in your midst. | 20The rest of the people will hear and become afraid to keep doing such evil among you. |
| 21Your eyes must not show pity—life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot." | 21You must not show pity; the principle will be a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, and a foot for a foot. |
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