# Deuteronomy 19 📖: Cities of Refuge and Witnesses [[📚 Explore the Bible Books]] [[-Deuteronomy Overview]] | [[Deuteronomy 18]] | [[Deuteronomy 20]] > [!info] Table of Contents > [[#📜 Scripture Text (NET)]] > [[#📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary]] > [[#🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights]] > [[#🧠 Chapter Summary]] > [[#✝️ Christ in This Chapter]] > [[#🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application]] > [[#💬 Discussion Questions]] > [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]] > [[#🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference]] > [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]] > [[#📂 Internal Notes]] ## 📜 Scripture Text (NET) (The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005) ### Laws Concerning Manslaughter [[#Verse 01.]] When 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,  [[#Verse 02.]] you must set apart for yourselves three cities in the middle of your land that the Lord your God is giving you as a possession.  [[#Verse 03.]] You 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.  [[#Verse 04.]] Now 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.  [[#Verse 05.]] Suppose 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.  [[#Verse 06.]] Otherwise 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.  [[#Verse 07.]] Therefore, I am commanding you to set apart for yourselves three cities.  [[#Verse 08.]] If the Lord your God enlarges your borders as he promised your ancestors and gives you all the land he pledged to them,  [[#Verse 09.]] and 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.  [[#Verse 10.]] You 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.  [[#Verse 11.]] However, suppose a person hates someone else and stalks him, attacks him, kills him, and then flees to one of these cities. [[#Verse 12.]] The elders of his own city must send for him and remove him from there to deliver him over to the blood avenger to die.  [[#Verse 13.]] You must not pity him, but purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, so that it may go well with you. ### Laws Concerning Witnesses [[#Verse 14.]] You 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. [[#Verse 15.]] A 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.  [[#Verse 16.]] If a false witness testifies against another person and accuses him of a crime, [[#Verse 17.]] then 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.  [[#Verse 18.]] The judges will thoroughly investigate the matter, and if the witness should prove to be false and to have given false testimony against the accused,  [[#Verse 19.]] you must do to him what he had intended to do to the accused. In this way you will purge the evil from among you.  [[#Verse 20.]] The rest of the people will hear and become afraid to keep doing such evil among you.  [[#Verse 21.]] You 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. ## 📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary ###### Overall. ###### Verse 01. ###### Verse 02. ###### Verse 03. ###### Verse 04. ###### Verse 05. ###### Verse 06. ###### Verse 07. ###### Verse 08. ###### Verse 09. ###### Verse 10. ###### Verse 11. ###### Verse 12. ###### Verse 13. ###### Verse 14. ###### Verse 15. ###### Verse 16. ###### Verse 17. ###### Verse 18. ###### Verse 19. ###### Verse 20. ###### Verse 21. ## 🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights 1. The example of an axe head flying off its handle (19:5) shows exactly what an accidental killing looked like. 2. The roads to the cities of refuge were to be prepared and kept open (19:3). Later Jewish tradition says signs marked "refuge" were posted at the crossroads. 3. Three more cities were to be added if the Lord enlarged Israel's territory (19:8-9). 4. The "avenger of blood" is the Hebrew *go'el*, the same word translated "redeemer" and used of Boaz in Ruth. 5. Moses had already set apart three cities of refuge east of the Jordan (4:41-43). 6. Joshua 20:7-8 names all six cities of refuge, three on each side of the Jordan. 7. The elders of a murderer's own town were responsible to hand him over (19:11-12), so the cities of refuge could not shelter the guilty. 8. "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth" (19:21) limited punishment to fit the crime. It was a principle for judges, not permission for personal revenge. 9. Jesus quotes the eye-for-eye principle in Matthew 5:38-39 and calls His followers not to take personal revenge. 10. In the ancient Near East, boundary stones were sometimes inscribed with curses against anyone who moved them, showing how seriously land boundaries were taken. ## 🧠 Chapter Summary > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## ✝️ Christ in This Chapter Christ is our refuge. The one who killed by accident fled to a city of refuge to escape the avenger (19:3-5), and we have fled to Jesus to take hold of the hope set before us (Hebrews 6:18-20). ## 🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## 💬 Discussion Questions 1. God provided refuge for those who killed someone by accident (19:4-6). What does this reveal about God's concern for both justice and mercy? 2. Moving a boundary marker was a serious wrong (19:14). What are some modern ways people quietly take what belongs to others? 3. A false witness received the punishment he intended for another (19:18-19). Why does honesty matter so much in God's community? ## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember - 📖 verses 2-3: Set apart three cities and prepare the roads so anyone who kills accidentally can flee there. - 📖 verse 14: Do not move your neighbor's boundary marker. - 📖 verse 15: Every matter must be established by two or three witnesses. ## 🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference - 🔗 [[Hebrews 06#Verse 18.|Hebrews 6:18-20]] - We have fled to take hold of the hope set before us. - 🔗 [[Joshua 20#Verse 01.|Joshua 20:1-6]] - The cities of refuge are established. - 🔗 [[Matthew 18#Verse 16.|Matthew 18:16]] - Every matter established by two or three witnesses. - 🔗 [[Matthew 05#Verse 38.|Matthew 5:38-39]] - Jesus on eye for eye. - 🔗 [[Proverbs 22#Verse 28.|Proverbs 22:28]] - Do not move the ancient boundary stone. ## 🙏 Devotional Reflection > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## 📂 Internal Notes