| New King James Version | NET 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 destroys the nations whose land he is about to give you and you dispossess them and settle 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 must set apart for yourselves three cities in the middle of your land that the LORD your God is giving you as a possession. |
| 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 shall build a roadway and divide into thirds the whole extent of your land that the LORD your God is providing as your inheritance; anyone who kills another person should flee to the closest of 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— | 4Now this is the law pertaining to one who flees there in order to live, if he has accidentally killed another without hating him at the time of the accident. |
| 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; | 5Suppose he goes with someone else to the forest to cut wood and when he raises the ax to cut the tree, the ax head flies loose from the handle and strikes his fellow worker so hard that he dies. The person responsible may then flee to one of these cities to save himself. |
| 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 blood avenger will chase after the killer in the heat of his anger, eventually overtake him, and kill him, though this is not a capital case since he did not hate him at the time of the accident. |
| 7Therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall separate three cities for yourself.’ | 7Therefore, I am commanding you to set apart for yourselves three cities. |
| 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 borders as he promised your ancestors and gives you all the land he pledged to 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, | 9and then you are careful to observe all these commandments I am giving you today (namely, to love the LORD your God and to always walk in his ways), then you must 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. | 10You must not shed innocent blood in your land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, for that would make you guilty. |
| 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, | 11However, suppose a person hates someone else and stalks him, attacks him, kills him, and then 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 own city must send for him and remove him from there to deliver him over to the blood avenger to 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 pity him, but purge out the blood of the innocent from Israel, so that it may go well with you. |
| 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 encroach on your neighbor's property, which will have been defined in the inheritance you will obtain in the land the LORD your God is giving you. |
| 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. | 15A single witness may not testify against another person for any trespass or sin that he commits. A matter may be legally established only on the testimony of two or three witnesses. |
| 16If a false witness rises against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing, | 16If a false witness testifies against another person and accuses 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. | 17then both parties to the controversy must stand before the LORD, that is, before the priests and judges who will be in office in those days. |
| 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 will thoroughly investigate the matter, and if the witness should prove to be false and to have given false testimony against the accused, |
| 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 what he had intended to do to the accused. In this way you will purge evil from among you. |
| 20And those who remain shall hear and fear, and hereafter they shall not again commit such evil among you. | 20The rest of the people will hear and become afraid to keep doing such evil 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; the principle will be a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, and a foot for a foot. |
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