Deuteronomy · 21 verses
Deuteronomy 19
Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.
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What happens here
Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.
A man goes into the forest with his neighbour, swings an axe, and watches the blade fly off the handle and kill him. The law then builds three cities and a remarkably careful distinction around that dreadful piece of bad luck.
Three cities for the flying axevv. 1–13
Once the LORD has given Israel the land and its cities, three cities are to be set apart, with roads built and the land divided into three regions so that a manslayer can flee. The example is almost painfully ordinary: two neighbours go to cut timber, and the axe blade slips its handle. The avenger of blood may be in a rage, but the fleeing man did not intend harm, so the city stands between accident and vengeance. If the territory grows, three more cities are added—but only alongside careful obedience and walking in the LORD’s ways. The arrangement changes entirely when hatred and ambush enter the tale. A deliberate killer who flees to a city is brought back by its elders and handed over to the avenger of blood; pity is expressly absent from the proceedings.
Boundaries, witnesses, and the boomerang of accusationvv. 14–21
The subject turns from fleeing killers to the quieter mischief of moving a neighbour’s boundary marker. A single witness cannot establish wrongdoing; two or three witnesses are required. If a witness falsely accuses his brother, both parties stand before the LORD, the priests, and the judges, who investigate thoroughly. Then comes the stark reversal: the false witness receives what he meant to bring upon the accused. The people are meant to hear, fear, and not repeat the evil. The final measure is given without softening: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot.
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Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.
Deut 19:1When the LORD your God has cut off the nations whose land He is giving you, and when you have driven them out and settled in their cities and houses,
Deut 19:2then you are to set apart for yourselves three cities within the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.
Deut 19:3You are to build roads for yourselves and divide into three regions the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, so that any manslayer can flee to these cities.
Deut 19:4Now this is the situation regarding the manslayer who flees to one of these cities to save his life, having killed his neighbor accidentally, without intending to harm him:
Deut 19:5If he goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut timber and swings his axe to chop down a tree, but the blade flies off the handle and strikes and kills his neighbor, he may flee to one of these cities to save his life.
Deut 19:6Otherwise, the avenger of blood might pursue the manslayer in a rage, overtake him if the distance is great, and strike him dead though he did not deserve to die, since he did not intend any harm.
Deut 19:7This is why I am commanding you to set apart for yourselves three cities.
Deut 19:8And if the LORD your God enlarges your territory, as He swore to your fathers, and gives you all the land He promised them,
Deut 19:9and if you carefully keep all these commandments I am giving you today, loving the LORD your God and walking in His ways at all times, then you are to add three more cities to these three.
Deut 19:10Thus innocent blood will not be shed in the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, so that you will not be guilty of bloodshed.
Deut 19:11If, however, a man hates his neighbor and lies in wait, attacks him and kills him, and then flees to one of these cities,
Deut 19:12the elders of his city must send for him, bring him back, and hand him over to the avenger of blood to die.
Deut 19:13You must show him no pity. You are to purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, that it may go well with you.
Deut 19:14You must not move your neighbor’s boundary marker, which was set up by your ancestors to mark the inheritance you shall receive in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.
Deut 19:15A lone witness is not sufficient to establish any wrongdoing or sin against a man, regardless of what offense he may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.
Deut 19:16If a false witness testifies against someone, accusing him of a crime,
Deut 19:17both parties to the dispute must stand in the presence of the LORD, before the priests and judges who are in office at that time.
Deut 19:18The judges shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is proven to be a liar who has falsely accused his brother,
Deut 19:19you must do to him as he intended to do to his brother. So you must purge the evil from among you.
Deut 19:20Then the rest of the people will hear and be afraid, and they will never again do anything so evil among you.
Deut 19:21You must show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot.
02 — Read alongside
Where this is echoed
Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 126 passages were voted onto 20 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.
- 15Numbers 35:30If anyone kills a person, the murderer is to be put to death on the testimony of the witnesses. But no one is to be put to death based on the testimony of a lone witness.
- 21Matthew 5:38–39You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye and tooth for tooth.’
- 15Deuteronomy 17:6On the testimony of two or three witnesses a man shall be put to death, but he shall not be executed on the testimony of a lone witness.
- 152 Corinthians 13:1This is the third time I am coming to you. “Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.”
- 15Matthew 18:16But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’
- 15Hebrews 10:28Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
- 17Deuteronomy 17:9You are to go to the Levitical priests and to the judge who presides at that time. Inquire of them, and they will give you a verdict in the case.
- 15John 8:17Even in your own Law it is written that the testimony of two men is valid.
- 151 Timothy 5:19Do not entertain an accusation against an elder, except on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
- 17Deuteronomy 21:5And the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come forward, for the LORD your God has chosen them to serve Him and pronounce blessings in His name and to give a ruling in every dispute and case of assault.
- 1Deuteronomy 12:29When the LORD your God cuts off before you the nations you are entering to dispossess, and you drive them out and live in their land,
- 131 Kings 2:31And the king replied, “Do just as he says. Strike him down and bury him, and so remove from me and from the house of my father the innocent blood that Joab shed.
- 14Proverbs 22:28Do not move an ancient boundary stone which your fathers have placed.
- 19Proverbs 19:5A false witness will not go unpunished, and one who utters lies will not escape.
- 21Exodus 21:23–25But if a serious injury results, then you must require a life for a life—
- 4Numbers 35:15–24These six cities will serve as a refuge for the Israelites and for the foreigner or stranger among them, so that anyone who kills a person unintentionally may flee there.
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