| New International Version | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1When the LORD your God has destroyed the nations whose land he is giving you, and when you have driven them out and settled in their towns and houses, | 1When 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, |
| 2then set aside for yourselves three cities in the land 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. |
| 3Determine the distances involved and divide into three parts the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, so that a person who kills someone may flee for refuge to one of these cities. | 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." |
| 4This is the rule concerning anyone who kills a person and flees there for safety--anyone who kills a neighbor unintentionally, without malice aforethought. | 4Here 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: |
| 5For instance, a man may go into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and as he swings his ax to fell a tree, the head may fly off and hit his neighbor and kill him. That man may flee to one of these cities and save his life. | 5If 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 him in a rage, overtake him if the distance is too great, and kill him even though he is not deserving of death, since he did it to his neighbor without malice aforethought. | 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. |
| 7This is why I command you to set aside for yourselves three cities. | 7This is why I am commanding you to set apart three cities for yourselves. |
| 8If the LORD your God enlarges your territory, as he promised on oath to your ancestors, and gives you the whole land he promised them, | 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-- |
| 9because you carefully follow all these laws I command you today--to love the LORD your God and to walk always in obedience to him--then you are to set aside three more cities. | 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. |
| 10Do this so that innocent blood will not be shed in your land, which the LORD your God is giving you as your inheritance, and so that you will not be guilty of bloodshed. | 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. |
| 11But if out of hate someone lies in wait, assaults and kills a neighbor, and then 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, |
| 12the killer shall be sent for by the town elders, be brought back from the city, and be handed over to the avenger of blood to die. | 12the elders of his city must send for him, take him from there, and hand him over to the avenger of blood and he will die. |
| 13Show no pity. You must purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, so that it may go well with you. | 13You must not look on him with pity but purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, and you will prosper." |
| 14Do not move your neighbor's boundary stone set up by your predecessors in the inheritance you receive in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess. | 14You must 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." |
| 15One witness is not enough to convict anyone accused of any crime or offense they may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. | 15One witness cannot establish any wrongdoing 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 takes the stand to accuse someone of a crime, | 16If a malicious witness testifies against someone accusing him of a crime, |
| 17the two people involved in the dispute must stand in the presence of the LORD before the priests and the judges who are in office at the time. | 17the two people in the dispute must stand in the presence of the LORD before the priests and judges in authority at that time. |
| 18The judges must make a thorough investigation, and if the witness proves to be a liar, giving false testimony against a fellow Israelite, | 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 do to the false witness as that witness intended to do to the other party. You must 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. |
| 20The rest of the people will hear of this and be afraid, and never again will such an evil thing be done among you. | 20Then everyone else will hear and be afraid, and they will never again do anything evil like this among you. |
| 21Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. | 21You must not show pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot." |
| New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. | Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. |
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