Глава 19

Reiteration of the Cities of Refuge Act. - Inviolability of boundaries. Explanation of the law on witnesses in court. – Punishment of a false witness. Deut.19:1. When the Lord your God has destroyed the nations whose land the Lord your God gives you, and you will inherit after them and dwell in their cities and their houses, Deut.19:2. Then separate for yourself three cities in the midst of your land, which the Lord your God is giving you to possess; Deut.19:3. build your way and divide into three parts all your land, which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance; they will serve as a refuge for every murderer. Deut.19:4. And this is what kind of murderer can run away there and remain alive: whoever kills his neighbor without intention, without being his enemy yesterday and the next day; Deut.19:5. whoever goes with his neighbor into the forest to chop wood, and his hand swings with an ax to cut down a tree, and the iron jumps off the ax and hits his neighbor, and he dies - let him run away to one of those cities in order to remain alive, Deut.19:6. so that the avenger of blood, in the ardor of his heart, does not chase the murderer and overtake him if the path is long, and kill him, while he is not subject to condemnation to death, for he was not an enemy to him yesterday and the next day; Deut.19:7. Therefore I gave you a command, saying: separate for yourself three cities. Deut.19:8. When the Lord your God will expand your borders, as He swore to your fathers, and will give you all the land that He promised to give to your fathers, Deut.19:9. If you try to keep all these commandments that I command you today, to love the Lord your God and walk in His ways always, then add three more cities to these three cities, Deut.19:10. lest the blood of the innocent be shed in the midst of thy land, which the Lord thy God is giving thee as an inheritance, and lest [guilt] blood be upon thee. Deut.19:11. But if someone [you] is an enemy to his neighbor and lies in wait for him, and rises up against him and kills him to death, and flees to one of those cities, Deut.19:12. then the elders of the city must send him to take him from there and deliver him into the hands of the avenger of blood, so that he may die; Deut.19:13. let not your eye have mercy on him; wash away the blood of the innocent from Israel, and it will be well with you. Wed. Number 35.6–34. “Set apart for yourself three cities” (vv. 2, 9) - in Western Transjordan: three cities in the east were already separated (Deut. 4.41–43). For the fulfillment of the noted order of Moses, see Joshua 20:7. Wed. Proverbs 22:28. Deut.19:15. It is not enough to have one witness against someone for any guilt and for some crime and for any sin that he commits: with the words of two witnesses, or with the words of three witnesses, [every] thing will take place. Wed. Number 35.30; Deut 17.6. Deut.19:16. If an unjust witness comes against someone, accusing him of a crime, Deut.19:17. then let both of these people who have a lawsuit appear before the Lord, before the priests and before the judges who will be in those days; Deut.19:18. judges must investigate carefully, and if that witness is a false witness, falsely denounced his brother, Deut.19:19. then do to him what he intended to do to his brother; and so destroy evil from among you; Deut.19:20. and others will hear and fear, and will no longer do such evil among you; Deut.19:21. Let not your eye spare [him]: life for soul, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. [Whoever harms his neighbor must repay him.] The motive for the strict measures recommended by the legislator against false witnesses is found in verses 19–20 (cf. Deut. 13:5, 11, 22:21, 22, 24, 24:7). You might be interested in: