Deuteronomy Chapter 19 in Simple English

Read Deuteronomy Chapter 19

1The LORD your God will cut off the nations whose land he is giving you. You will take their place and live in their cities and in their houses.

2Then you must set apart three cities for yourself in the middle of your land, which the LORD your God is giving you to possess.

3You must build a road, and divide into three parts the land that the LORD your God gives you to inherit. Then anyone who kills a person can run there.

4This is the rule for the one who kills a person and runs there to stay alive. It is for anyone who kills his neighbour without meaning to, when he did not hate him before.

5For example, a man goes into the forest with his neighbour to cut wood. He swings the axe to cut down a tree, and the axe head slips off the handle and hits his neighbour, so that he dies. That man may run to one of those cities and live.

6If the road were too long, the avenger of blood might chase the man while his heart is hot with anger. He might catch him and kill him, though the man did not deserve to die, because he did not hate his neighbour before.

7That is why I command you: You must set apart three cities for yourself.

8The LORD your God may make your land larger, as he promised your fathers with an oath, and give you all the land he promised to give them.

9That will happen if you carefully keep all these commands that I give you today, loving the LORD your God and always walking in his ways. Then you must add three more cities for yourself, besides these three,

10so that innocent blood may not be shed in your land, which the LORD your God is giving you as your inheritance, and so that you will not be guilty of blood.

11But suppose a man hates his neighbour, waits in hiding for him, attacks him and strikes him so that he dies, and then runs to one of these cities.

12Then the elders of his own city must send and bring him back from there. They must hand him over to the avenger of blood, so that he dies.

13Your eye must not pity him. You must clear away from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, so that it may go well with you.

14You must not move your neighbour's boundary stone, which people long ago set in the land you inherit. It is in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.

15One witness alone must not stand up against a man for any wrong or any sin, whatever sin he has done. A matter must be settled by the word of two witnesses, or by the word of three witnesses.

16Suppose a false witness stands up against a man to accuse him of something wrong.

17Then the two men who are arguing must stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges who are serving in those days.

18The judges must search out the matter carefully. If the witness is a false witness and has given false evidence against his brother,

19then you must do to him what he planned to do to his brother. So you will clear the evil away from among you.

20The rest of the people will hear of it and be afraid, and they will never again do such an evil thing among you.

21Your eye must not pity him. It shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Explanation

Deuteronomy 19

In short

This chapter sets up cities where someone who kills a person by accident can run for safety, so they do not get executed by the victim's relatives seeking revenge. It also establishes rules for fair trials: you need at least two witnesses to convict someone, and if a witness lies, he receives the same punishment he tried to inflict on the accused.

Context

Moses is speaking to Israel before they enter Canaan. He has already laid out many laws in Deuteronomy. Now he addresses what will happen once they occupy the land: they will need practical systems for justice, including protection for those guilty of unintended harm and safeguards against false accusation.

What the text says

When Israel takes the land (verses 1-2), they must set apart three cities of refuge. Verse 3 explains their purpose: any person who kills another can flee there. Verses 4-6 describe who qualifies: someone who kills his neighbour unintentionally, without prior hatred, such as an axe head slipping in the forest. The killer flees to avoid the blood avenger, the dead man's relative, who would chase him down in hot anger. If space allows, three more cities are to be added (verses 8-9), conditional on keeping God's commandments.

Verses 11-13 draw the line: if someone flees after intentional murder, the city elders must hand him over to the avenger. No pity is shown.

Verses 14-15 shift to courtroom justice. Boundary stones are not to be moved, and one witness alone cannot convict anyone. Two or three witnesses are required (verse 15).

Verses 16-19 address false witnesses. If a witness is exposed as lying, the judges apply the principle that he receives what he aimed to inflict on the accused.

Verse 21 restates the measure of justice: life for life, eye for eye.

Takeaways

The refuge cities protect accidental killers from revenge, but deliberate murderers receive no shelter.
Legal conviction requires multiple witnesses, not the word of one person.
False witnesses are punished as if they had succeeded in harming the innocent party.

Deuteronomy 19 - Simple English