| New American Standard Bible 1995 | Christian Standard Bible |
| 1"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, | 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 aside three cities for yourself in the midst of your land, which the LORD your God gives you to possess. | 2you are to set apart three cities for yourselves within the land the LORD your God is giving 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. | 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"Now this is the case of the manslayer who may flee there and live: when he kills his friend unintentionally, not hating him previously-- | 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 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; | 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. |
| 6otherwise 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. | 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. |
| 7"Therefore, I command you, saying, 'You shall set aside three cities for yourself.' | 7This is why I am commanding you to set apart three cities for yourselves. |
| 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-- | 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-- |
| 9if you carefully observe all this commandment which I command you today, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in His ways always-- then you shall add three more cities for yourself, besides 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. |
| 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. | 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 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, | 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 deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, 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. |
| 13"You shall not pity him, but you shall purge the blood of the innocent from Israel, that it may go 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 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. | 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 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. | 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. |
| 16"If a malicious witness rises up against a man to accuse him of wrongdoing, | 16"If a malicious witness testifies against someone accusing him of a crime, |
| 17then 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. | 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. |
| 18"The judges shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is a false witness and he 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 just as he had intended to do to his brother. Thus you shall purge the evil from among you. | 19you must do to him as he intended to do to his brother. You must purge the evil from you. |
| 20"The rest will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such an evil thing among you. | 20Then everyone else will hear and be afraid, and they will never again do anything evil like this among you. |
| 21"Thus you shall not show pity: 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. |
| New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit //www.lockman.org | The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. |
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