Deuteronomy 19

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 "When the LORD, your God, removes the nations whose land he is giving you, and you have taken their place and are settled in their cities and houses,	1 “When the Lord your God will have destroyed the nations, whose land he will deliver to you, and when you possess it and live in its cities and buildings,
2 you shall set apart three cities in the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you to occupy.	2 you shall separate for yourselves three cities in the midst of the land, which the Lord will give to you as a possession,
3 You shall thereby divide into three regions the land which the LORD, your God, will give you as a heritage, and so arrange the routes that every homicide will be able to find a refuge.	3 paving the road carefully. And you shall divide the entire province of your land equally into three parts, so that he who is forced to flee because of manslaughter may have a place nearby to which he may be able to escape.
4 "It is in the following case that a homicide may take refuge in such a place to save his life: when someone unwittingly kills his neighbor to whom he had previously borne no malice.	4 This shall be the law of the killer who flees, whose life is to be saved. Whoever strikes down his neighbor unwillingly, and who has been proven to have had no hatred against him yesterday and the day before,
5 For example, if he goes with his neighbor to a forest to cut wood, and as he swings his ax to fell a tree, its head flies off the handle and hits his neighbor a mortal blow, he may take refuge in one of these cities to save his life.	5 such that he had gone with him into the forest simply to cut wood, and in cutting down the tree, the axe slipped from his hand, or the iron slipped from the handle, and it struck his friend and killed him: he shall flee to one of the cities stated above, and he shall live.
6 Should the distance be too great, the avenger of blood may in the heat of his anger pursue the homicide and overtake him and strike him dead, even though he does not merit death since he had previously borne the slain man no malice.	6 Otherwise, perhaps the near relative of him whose blood was shed, impelled by his grief, might pursue and apprehend him, unless the way is too long, and he might strike down the life of him who is not guilty unto death, since he had demonstrated that he had no prior hatred against him who was slain.
7 That is why I order you to set apart three cities.	7 For this reason, I instruct you to separate three cities at equal distance from one another.
8 "But if the LORD, your God, enlarges your territory, as he swore to your fathers, and gives you all the land he promised your fathers he would give	8 And when the Lord your God will have enlarged your borders, just as he swore to your fathers, and when he will have given to you all the land that he has promised to them,
9 in the event that you carefully observe all these commandments which I enjoin on you today, loving the LORD, your God, and ever walking in his ways: then add three cities to these three.	9 (but this is only so if you will keep his commandments and do the things which I instruct to you this day, so that you love the Lord your God, and walk in his ways at all times) you shall add for yourselves three other cities, and so you shall double the number of the three cities stated above.
10 Thus, in the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you as a heritage, innocent blood will not be shed and you will not become guilty of bloodshed.	10 So may innocent blood not be shed in the midst of the land which the Lord your God will give you to possess, lest you be guilty of blood.
11 "However, if someone lies in wait for his neighbor out of hatred for him, and rising up against him, strikes him mortally, and then takes refuge in one of these cities,	11 But if anyone, having hatred for his neighbor, will have lain in ambush for his life, and, rising up, will have struck him, and he will have died, and if he will have fled to one of the cities stated above,
12 the elders of his own city shall send for him and have him taken from there, and shall hand him over to be slain by the avenger of blood.	12 the elders of his city shall send, and they shall take him from the place of refuge, and they shall deliver him into the hand of the relative of him whose blood was shed, and he shall die.
13 Do not look on him with pity, but purge from Israel the stain of shedding innocent blood, that you may prosper.	13 You shall not take pity on him, and so shall you take away the blood of the innocent from Israel, so that it may be well with you.
14 "You shall not move your neighbor's landmarks erected by your forefathers in the heritage you receive in the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you to occupy.	14 You shall not take up or move the landmark of your neighbor, which those before you have placed, in your possession that the Lord your God will give to you, in the land you will receive to possess.
15 "One witness alone shall not take the stand against a man in regard to any crime or any offense of which he may be guilty; a judicial fact shall be established only on the testimony of two or three witnesses.	15 One witness shall not stand against another, no matter what the sin or outrage may be. For every word shall stand by the mouth of two or three witnesses.
16 "If an unjust witness takes the stand against a man to accuse him of a defection from the law,	16 If a lying witness will have stood against a man, accusing him of a transgression,
17 the two parties in the dispute shall appear before the LORD in the presence of the priests or judges in office at that time;	17 both of those whose case it is shall stand before the Lord in the sight of the priests and the judges who shall be in those days.
18 and if after a thorough investigation the judges find that the witness is a false witness and has accused his kinsman falsely,	18 And when, after a very diligent examination, they will have found that the false witness had told a lie against his brother,
19 you shall do to him as he planned to do to his kinsman. Thus shall you purge the evil from your midst.	19 they shall render to him just as he intended to do to his brother. And so shall you take away the evil from your midst.
20 The rest, on hearing of it, shall fear, and never again do a thing so evil among you.	20 Then the others, upon hearing this, will be afraid, and they will by no means dare to do such things.
21 Do not look on such a man with pity. Life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot!	21 You shall not take pity on him. Instead, you shall require a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot.”