Cities of refuge and honest witness
Deuteronomy · Draft · BSB
Content revision: cb03d5507a221034 · No editorial review date recorded
Date: c. 1406 BC · Year 40, month 11 (Deuteronomy 1:3). Dated from 1 Kings 6:1 (the Exodus c. 1446 BC). Many scholars instead date the Exodus to about 1260 BC, placing these speeches about 1220 BC.
Israel is to set apart three cities in the land, with roads to them, so that someone who kills another by accident can flee there and live, while a deliberate murderer is handed over. Boundary stones must not be moved. A matter must be established by two or three witnesses, and a false witness is to receive the penalty he intended for another.
Deuteronomy records Moses’ last speeches to the new generation of Israel on the plains of Moab, in the fortieth year after the Exodus (1:3). It looks back over the journey from Egypt and Horeb and forward to life in the land, calling Israel to love the LORD and remember what he has done. Each section below lists what Moses recalls, with links to those events on the timeline, and where the rest of Scripture takes up the passage.
The Ten Commandments, the great commandment, and the statutes for life in the land, ending with blessings and curses (4:44–28:68).
Primary Scripture
19:1 When 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,
19:2 then you are to set apart for yourselves three cities within the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.
19:3 You 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.
19:4 Now 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:
19:5 If 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.
19:6 Otherwise, 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.
19:7 This is why I am commanding you to set apart for yourselves three cities.
19:8 And if the LORD your God enlarges your territory, as He swore to your fathers, and gives you all the land He promised them,
19:9 and 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.
19:10 Thus 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.
19:11 If, however, a man hates his neighbor and lies in wait, attacks him and kills him, and then flees to one of these cities,
19:12 the elders of his city must send for him, bring him back, and hand him over to the avenger of blood to die.
19:13 You must show him no pity. You are to purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, that it may go well with you.
19:14 You 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.
19:15 A 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.
19:16 If a false witness testifies against someone, accusing him of a crime,
19:17 both parties to the dispute must stand in the presence of the LORD, before the priests and judges who are in office at that time.
19:18 The judges shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is proven to be a liar who has falsely accused his brother,
19:19 you must do to him as he intended to do to his brother. So you must purge the evil from among you.
19:20 Then the rest of the people will hear and be afraid, and they will never again do anything so evil among you.
19:21 You must show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot.
Where Scripture takes it up
Jesus cites two or three witnesses.
Humility, reconciliation and forgiveness
Jesus on “eye for eye.”
Location evidence
Plains of Moab: Approximate region. Coordinates [longitude, latitude]: [35.64, 31.85]. Classification source: editorial.
Illustrative regional extent: [[35.56,31.77],[35.7,31.91]]; not a measured confidence interval.
Numbers 33:48–49 · extent of the camp
For the class
How does this chapter guard both innocent life and fair trials?
Interpretation and reuse
Narrative order is a reading arrangement, not a proven chronology. Dates retain their stated uncertainty. An identified locality does not establish the exact venue or prove an event. Region extents and routes are illustrative, not surveyed boundaries or ancient roads. Draft material has not completed editorial review.
Record source: editorial
Study guide: original editorial writing for Scripture Atlas.
Place coordinates: OpenBible.info, CC BY 4.0.
Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain. https://berean.bible/licensing.htm