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Text -- Deuteronomy 19:1-21 (NET)
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Strongs On/Off
Context
Laws Concerning Manslaughter
19:1 When 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 ,
19:2 you must set apart for yourselves three cities in the middle of your land that the Lord your God is giving you as a possession .
19:3 You 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.
19:4 Now 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.
19:5 Suppose 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 .
19:6 Otherwise 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 .
19:7 Therefore , I am commanding you to set apart for yourselves three cities .
19:8 If the Lord your God enlarges your borders as he promised your ancestors and gives you all the land he pledged to them ,
19:9 and 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 .
19:10 You 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 .
19:11 However, suppose a person hates someone else and stalks him, attacks him, kills him , and then flees to one of these cities .
19:12 The elders of his own city must send for him and remove him from there to deliver him over to the blood avenger to die .
19:13 You must not pity him, but purge out the blood of the innocent from Israel , so that it may go well with you.
Laws Concerning Witnesses
19:14 You 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.
19:15 A 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 .
19:16 If a false witness testifies against another person and accuses him of a crime ,
19:17 then 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 .
19:18 The judges will thoroughly investigate the matter, and if the witness should prove to be false and to have given false testimony against the accused ,
19:19 you must do to him what he had intended to do to the accused. In this way you will purge evil from among you.
19:20 The rest of the people will hear and become afraid to keep doing such evil among you.
19:21 You 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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Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics
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Names, People and Places:
Dictionary Themes and Topics:
Homicide |
Moses |
LAW IN THE OLD TESTAMENT |
LAW OF MOSES |
Witness |
Avenger of Blood |
DEUTERONOMY |
REFUGE, CITIES OF |
City |
Slander |
Refuge |
COURTS, JUDICIAL |
Evidence |
Church |
CRIME; CRIMES |
Fear of God |
PUNISHMENTS |
Lies and Deceits |
Judge |
MURDER |
more
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expand allCommentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes
NET Notes -> Deu 19:1; Deu 19:2; Deu 19:3; Deu 19:4; Deu 19:4; Deu 19:4; Deu 19:5; Deu 19:5; Deu 19:5; Deu 19:5; Deu 19:5; Deu 19:5; Deu 19:5; Deu 19:6; Deu 19:6; Deu 19:6; Deu 19:8; Deu 19:8; Deu 19:9; Deu 19:9; Deu 19:9; Deu 19:10; Deu 19:10; Deu 19:11; Deu 19:11; Deu 19:12; Deu 19:13; Deu 19:14; Deu 19:14; Deu 19:14; Deu 19:15; Deu 19:15; Deu 19:16; Deu 19:16; Deu 19:17; Deu 19:18; Deu 19:19; Deu 19:21
NET Notes: Deu 19:1 Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.
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NET Notes: Deu 19:2 These three cities, later designated by Joshua, were Kedesh of Galilee, Shechem, and Hebron (Josh 20:7-9).
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NET Notes: Deu 19:4 Heb “yesterday and a third (day)” (likewise in v. 6). The point is that there was no animosity between the two parties at the time of the ...
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NET Notes: Deu 19:8 Heb “he said to give to your ancestors.” The pronoun has been used in the translation instead for stylistic reasons.
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NET Notes: Deu 19:9 You will add three more cities. Since these are alluded to nowhere else and thus were probably never added, this must be a provision for other cities ...
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NET Notes: Deu 19:10 Heb “and blood will be upon you” (cf. KJV, ASV); NRSV “thereby bringing bloodguilt upon you.”
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NET Notes: Deu 19:13 Purge out the blood of the innocent. Because of the corporate nature of Israel’s community life, the whole community shared in the guilt of unav...
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NET Notes: Deu 19:14 The Hebrew text includes “to possess it.” This phrase has been left untranslated to avoid redundancy.
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NET Notes: Deu 19:16 Or “rebellion.” Rebellion against God’s law is in view (cf. NAB “of a defection from the law”).
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NET Notes: Deu 19:17 The appositional construction (“before the Lord, that is, before the priests and judges”) indicates that these human agents represented th...
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