| English Standard Version | Christian Standard Bible |
| 1“When the LORD your God cuts 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, | 1"When the LORD your God annihilates the nations whose land he is giving you, so that you drive them out and live in their cities and houses, |
| 2you shall set apart three cities for yourselves in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess. | 2you are to set apart three cities for yourselves within the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess. |
| 3You shall measure the distances and divide into three parts the area of the land that the LORD your God gives you as a possession, so that any manslayer can flee to them. | 3You are to determine the distances and divide the land the LORD your God is granting you as an inheritance into three regions, so that anyone who commits manslaughter can flee to these cities. |
| 4“This is the provision for the manslayer, who by fleeing there may save his life. If anyone kills his neighbor unintentionally without having hated him in the past— | 4"Here is the law concerning a case of someone who kills a person and flees there to save his life, having killed his neighbor accidentally without previously hating him: |
| 5as when someone goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and his hand swings the axe to cut down a tree, and the head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies—he may flee to one of these cities and live, | 5If, for example, he goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut timber, and his hand swings the ax to chop down a tree, but the blade flies off the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies, that person may flee to one of these cities and live. |
| 6lest the avenger of blood in hot anger pursue the manslayer and overtake him, because the way is long, and strike him fatally, though the man did not deserve to die, since he had not hated his neighbor in the past. | 6Otherwise, the avenger of blood in the heat of his anger might pursue the one who committed manslaughter, overtake him because the distance is great, and strike him dead. Yet he did not deserve to die, since he did not previously hate his neighbor. |
| 7Therefore I command you, You shall set apart three cities. | 7This is why I am commanding you to set apart three cities for yourselves. |
| 8And if the LORD your God enlarges your territory, as he has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land that he promised to give to your fathers— | 8If the LORD your God enlarges your territory as he swore to your fathers, and gives you all the land he promised to give them-- |
| 9provided you are careful to keep all this commandment, which I command you today, by loving the LORD your God and by walking ever in his ways—then you shall add three other cities to these three, | 9provided you keep every one of these commands I am giving you today and follow them, loving the LORD your God and walking in his ways at all times--you are to add three more cities to these three. |
| 10lest innocent blood be shed in your land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance, and so the guilt of bloodshed be upon you. | 10In this way, innocent blood will not be shed, and you will not become guilty of bloodshed in the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance. |
| 11“But if anyone hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and attacks him and strikes him fatally so that he dies, and he flees into one of these cities, | 11But if someone hates his neighbor, lies in ambush for him, attacks him, and strikes him fatally, and flees to one of these cities, |
| 12then the elders of his city shall send and take him from there, and hand him over to the avenger of blood, so that he may die. | 12the elders of his city are to send for him, take him from there, and hand him over to the avenger of blood and he will die. |
| 13Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, so that it may be well with you. | 13Do not look on him with pity but purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, and you will prosper. |
| 14“You shall not move your neighbor’s landmark, which the men of old have set, in the inheritance that you will hold in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess. | 14"Do not move your neighbor's boundary marker, established at the start in the inheritance you will receive in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess. |
| 15“A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established. | 15"One witness cannot establish any iniquity or sin against a person, whatever that person has done. A fact must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. |
| 16If a malicious witness arises to accuse a person of wrongdoing, | 16"If a malicious witness testifies against someone accusing him of a crime, |
| 17then both parties to the dispute shall appear before the LORD, before the priests and the judges who are in office in those days. | 17the two people in the dispute are to stand in the presence of the LORD before the priests and judges in authority at that time. |
| 18The judges shall inquire diligently, and if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely, | 18The judges are to make a careful investigation, and if the witness turns out to be a liar who has falsely accused his brother, |
| 19then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother. So you shall purge the evil from your midst. | 19you must do to him as he intended to do to his brother. You must purge the evil from you. |
| 20And the rest shall hear and fear, and shall never again commit any such evil among you. | 20Then everyone else will hear and be afraid, and they will never again do anything evil like this among you. |
| 21Your eye shall not pity. It shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. | 21Do not show pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot. |
| ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. | The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. |
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