| New King James Version | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 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, | 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, |
| 2you shall separate three cities for yourself in the midst of your land which 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 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. | 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“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— | 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: |
| 5as 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; | 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. |
| 6lest 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. | 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, saying, ‘You shall separate three cities for yourself.’ | 7This is why I am commanding you to set apart three cities for yourselves. |
| 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, | 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-- |
| 9and 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, | 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 the midst of your land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and thus 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, lies in wait for him, rises against him and strikes him mortally, 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 bring him from there, and deliver him over to the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may 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. |
| 13Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, 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." |
| 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. | 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." |
| 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. | 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 false witness rises against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing, | 16If a malicious witness testifies against someone accusing him of a crime, |
| 17then both men in the controversy shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges who serve in those days. | 17the two people in the dispute must stand in the presence of the LORD before the priests and judges in authority at that time. |
| 18And the judges shall make careful inquiry, and indeed, if the witness is a false witness, who has testified falsely against his brother, | 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 thought to have done to his brother; so you shall put away 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. |
| 20And those who remain shall hear and fear, and hereafter they shall not again commit 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: life shall be 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." |
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