Deuteronomy 19 :: New King James Version (NKJV)

Three Cities of Refuge

Cities of Safety

(Num. 35:9–28; Josh. 20:1–9 )

Deu 19:1“When the LORD your God has cut off the nations whose land the LORD your God is giving you, and you dispossess them and dwell in their cities and in their houses,

Deu 19:2

Deu 19:2“you shall separate three cities for yourself in the midst of your land which the LORD your God is giving you to possess.

Deu 19:3

Deu 19:3“You shall prepare roads for yourself, and divide into three parts the territory of your land which the LORD your God is giving you to inherit, that any manslayer may flee there.

Deu 19:4

Deu 19:4“And this is the case of the manslayer who flees there, that he may live: Whoever kills his neighbor unintentionally, not having hated him in time past—

Deu 19:5

Deu 19:5“as when a man goes to the woods with his neighbor to cut timber, and his hand swings a stroke with the ax to cut down the tree, and the head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies—he shall flee to one of these cities and live;

Deu 19:6

Deu 19:6“lest the avenger of blood, while his anger is hot, pursue the manslayer and overtake him, because the way is long, and kill him, though he was not deserving of death, since he had not hated the victim in time past.

Deu 19:7

Deu 19:7“Therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall separate three cities for yourself.’

Deu 19:8

Deu 19:8“Now if the LORD your God enlarges your territory, as He swore to your fathers, and gives you the land which He promised to give to your fathers,

Deu 19:9

Deu 19:9“and if you keep all these commandments and do them, which I command you today, to love the LORD your God and to walk always in His ways, then you shall add three more cities for yourself besides these three,

Deu 19:10

Deu 19:10“lest innocent blood be shed in the midst of your land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and thus guilt of bloodshed be upon you.

Deu 19:11

Deu 19:11“But if anyone hates his neighbor, lies in wait for him, rises against him and strikes him mortally, so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities,

Deu 19:12

Deu 19:12“then the elders of his city shall send and bring him from there, and deliver him over to the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die.

Deu 19:13

Deu 19:13“Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with you.

Property Boundaries

Deu 19:14

Deu 19:14“You shall not remove your neighbor’s landmark, which the men of old have set, in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.

The Law Concerning Witnesses

Deu 19:15

Deu 19:15“One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established.

Deu 19:16

Deu 19:16“If a false witness rises against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing,

Deu 19:17

Deu 19:17“then both men in the controversy shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges who serve in those days.

Deu 19:18

Deu 19:18“And the judges shall make careful inquiry, and indeed, if the witness is a false witness, who has testified falsely against his brother,

Deu 19:19

Deu 19:19“then you shall do to him as he thought to have done to his brother; so you shall put away the evil from among you.

Deu 19:20

Deu 19:20“And those who remain shall hear and fear, and hereafter they shall not again commit such evil among you.

Deu 19:21

Deu 19:21“Your eye shall not pity: life shall be for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

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Deuteronomy Chapter 19 — Additional Translations:

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Deuteronomy 19 :: New King James Version (NKJV)

Deuteronomy Chapter 19 — Additional Translations:

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