| Berean Study Bible | NET Bible |
| 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, | 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, |
| 2then you are to set apart for yourselves three cities within the land that 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 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. | 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. |
| 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: | 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. |
| 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. | 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. |
| 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. | 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. |
| 7This is why I am commanding you to set apart for yourselves three cities. | 7Therefore, I am commanding you to set apart for yourselves three cities. |
| 8And if the LORD your God enlarges your territory, as He swore to your fathers, and gives you all the land He promised them, | 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 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. | 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. |
| 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. | 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. |
| 11If, however, a man hates his neighbor and lies in wait, attacks him and kills him, and then 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. |
| 12the elders of his city must send for him, bring him back, and hand him over to the avenger of blood to 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. |
| 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. | 13You must not pity him, but purge out the blood of the innocent from Israel, so that it may go well with you. |
| 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. | 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. |
| 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. | 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 testifies against someone, accusing him of a crime, | 16If a false witness testifies against another person and accuses him of a crime, |
| 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. | 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. |
| 18The judges shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is proven to be a liar who has falsely accused 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, |
| 19you must do to him as he intended to do to his brother. So you must purge 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. |
| 20Then the rest of the people will hear and be afraid, and they will never again do anything so evil among you. | 20The rest of the people will hear and become afraid to keep doing such evil among you. |
| 21You must show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and 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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