191 " When the Lord your God cuts off the nations , whose land the Lord your God gives you, and you dispossess them and settle in their cities and in their houses , 2 you shall set aside three cities for yourself in the midst of your land , which the Lord your God gives you to possess . 3 "You shall prepare the roads for yourself, and divide into three parts the territory of your land which the Lord your God will give you as a possession , so that any manslayer may flee there . 4 " Now this is the case of the manslayer who may flee there and live : when he kills his friend unintentionally e , not hating him previously - 5 as when a man goes into the forest with his friend to cut wood , and his hand swings the axe to cut down the tree , and the iron head slips off the handle and strikes his friend so that he dies -he may flee to one of these cities and live ; 6 otherwise the avenger of blood might pursue the manslayer in the heat of his anger , and overtake him, because the way is long , and take his life , though he was not deserving of death , since he had not hated him previously . 7 "Therefore e , I command you, saying , 'You shall set aside three cities for yourself.' 8 "If the Lord your God enlarges your territory , just as He has sworn to your fathers , and gives you all the land which He promised to give your fathers - 9 if you carefully observe all this commandment which I command you today , to love the Lord your God , and to walk in His ways always e - then you shall add three more cities for yourself, besides these three . 10 "So innocent blood will not be shed in the midst of your land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance , and bloodguiltiness be on you. 11 "But if there is a man who hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and rises up against him and strikes him so that he dies , and he flees to one of these cities , 12 then the elders of his city shall send and take him from there and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood , that he may die . 13 " You shall not pity him, but you shall purge the blood of the innocent from Israel , that it may go well with you.
14 " You shall not move your neighbor's boundary mark, which the ancestors have set , in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land that the Lord your God gives you to possess .
15 " A single witness shall not rise up against a man on account of any iniquity or any sin which he has committed ; on the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed . 16 " If a malicious witness rises up against a man to accuse him of wrongdoing , 17 then both the men who have the dispute shall stand before the Lord , before the priests and the judges who will be in office in those days . 18 "The judges shall investigate thoroughly , and if the witness is a false witness and he has accused his brother falsely , 19 then you shall do to him just as he had intended to do to his brother . Thus you shall purge the evil from among you. 20 " The rest will hear and be afraid , and will never again e do such an evil thing among you. 21 "Thus you shall not show pity : life for life , eye for eye , tooth for tooth , hand for hand , foot for foot .
