When Jehovah thy God shall cut off the nations, whose land Jehovah thy God giveth thee, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their cities, and in their houses;
thou shalt set apart three cities for thee in the midst of thy land, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee to possess it.
Thou shalt prepare thee the way, and divide the borders of thy land, which Jehovah thy God causeth thee to inherit, into three parts, that every manslayer may flee thither.
And this is the case of the manslayer, that shall flee thither and live: whoso killeth his neighbor unawares, and hated him not in time past;
as when a man goeth into the forest with his neighbor to hew wood, and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the {Hebrew: iron.}head slippeth from {Or, the tree}the helve, and lighteth upon his neighbor, so that he dieth; he shall flee unto one of these cities and live:
lest the avenger of blood pursue the manslayer, while his heart is hot, and overtake him, because the way is long, and smite him mortally; whereas he was not worthy of death, inasmuch as he hated him not in time past.
Wherefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt set apart three cities for thee.
And if Jehovah thy God enlarge thy border, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers, and give thee all the land which he promised to give unto thy fathers;
if thou shalt keep all this commandment to do it, which I command thee this day, to love Jehovah thy God, and to walk ever in his ways; then shalt thou add three cities more for thee, besides these three:
that {Or, the blood of an innocent man}innocent blood be not shed in the midst of thy land, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and so blood be upon thee.
But if any man hate his neighbor, and lie in wait for him, and rise up against him, and smite him mortally so that he dieth, and he flee into one of these cities;
then the elders of his city shall send and fetch him thence, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die.
Thine eye shall not pity him, but thou shalt put away {Or, the blood of the innocent}the innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with thee.
Thou shalt not remove thy neighbor's landmark, which they of old time have set, in thine inheritance which thou shalt inherit, in the land that Jehovah thy God giveth thee to possess it.
One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall a matter be established.
If an unrighteous witness rise up against any man to testify against him of {Or, rebellion See chapter 13:5}wrong-doing,
then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before Jehovah, before the priests and the judges that shall be in those days;
and the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and have testified falsely against his brother;
then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to do unto his brother: so shalt thou put away the evil from the midst of thee.
And those that remain shall hear, and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil in the midst of thee.
And thine eyes shall not pity; life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
Querverweise zu 5. Mose 19,2 5Mo 19,2
Then Moses set apart three cities beyond the Jordan toward the sunrising;
that the manslayer might flee thither, that slayeth his neighbor unawares, and hated him not in time past; and that fleeing unto one of these cities he might live:
namely, Bezer in the wilderness, in the {Or, table-land}plain country, for the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead, for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, for the Manassites.
And if a man lie not in wait, but God deliver him into his hand; then I will appoint thee a place whither he shall flee.
Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan,
then ye shall appoint you cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the manslayer that killeth any person unwittingly may flee thither.
And the cities shall be unto you for refuge from the avenger, that the manslayer die not, until he stand before the congregation for judgment.
And the cities which ye shall give shall be for you six cities of refuge.
Ye shall give three cities beyond the Jordan, and three cities shall ye give in the land of Canaan; they shall be cities of refuge.
For the children of Israel, and for the stranger and for the sojourner among them, shall these six cities be for refuge; that every one that killeth any person {Or, through error}unwittingly may flee thither.
Speak to the children of Israel, saying, Assign you the cities of refuge, whereof I spake unto you by Moses,
that the manslayer that killeth any person {Or, through error}unwittingly and unawares may flee thither: and they shall be unto you for a refuge from the avenger of blood.
And he shall flee unto one of those cities, and shall stand at the entrance of the gate of the city, and declare his cause in the ears of the elders of that city; and they shall {Hebrew: gather.}take him into the city unto them, and give him a place, that he may dwell among them.
And if the avenger of blood pursue after him, then they shall not deliver up the manslayer into his hand; because he smote his neighbor unawares, and hated him not beforetime.
And he shall dwell in that city, until he stand before the congregation for judgment, until the death of the high priest that shall be in those days: then shall the manslayer return, and come unto his own city, and unto his own house, unto the city from whence he fled.
And they {Hebrew: sanctified.}set apart Kedesh in {Hebrew: Galil.}Galilee in the hill-country of Naphtali, and Shechem in the hill-country of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (the same is Hebron) in the hill-country of Judah.
that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have a strong encouragement, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us: