Deuteronomy:19

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* "When the LORD your God has cut off the nations whose land the LORD your God is giving you , and you dispossess them and dwell in their cities and in their houses , * you shall separate three cities for yourself in the midst of your land which the LORD your God is giving you to possess . * You shall prepare roads for yourself , and divide into three parts the territory of your land which the LORD your God is giving you to inherit , that any manslayer may flee there . * "And this is the case of the manslayer who flees there , that he may live : Whoever kills his neighbor unintentionally , not having hated him in time past -- * as when a man goes to the woods with his neighbor to cut timber , and his hand swings a stroke with the ax to cut down the tree , and the head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies--he shall flee to one of these cities and live ; * lest the avenger of blood , while his anger is hot , pursue the manslayer and overtake him , because the way is long , and kill him , though he was not deserving of death , since he had not hated the victim in time past . * Therefore I command you , saying , "You shall separate three cities for yourself .' * "Now if the LORD your God enlarges your territory , as He swore to your fathers , and gives you the land which He promised to give to your fathers , * and if you keep all these commandments and do them , which I command you today , to love the LORD your God and to walk always in His ways , then you shall add three more cities for yourself besides these three , * lest innocent blood be shed in the midst of your land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance , and thus guilt of bloodshed be upon you . * "But if anyone hates his neighbor , lies in wait for him , rises against him and strikes him mortally , so that he dies , and he flees to one of these cities , * then the elders of his city shall send and bring him from there , and deliver him over to the hand of the avenger of blood , that he may die . * Your eye shall not pity him , but you shall put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel , that it may go well with you . * "You shall not remove your neighbor 's landmark , which the men of old have set , in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess . * "One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits ; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established . * If a false witness rises against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing , * then both men in the controversy shall stand before the LORD , before the priests and the judges who serve in those days . * And the judges shall make careful inquiry , and indeed , if the witness is a false witness , who has testified falsely against his brother , * then you shall do to him as he thought to have done to his brother ; so you shall put away the evil from among you . * And those who remain shall hear and fear , and hereafter they shall not again commit such evil among you . * Your eye shall not pity : life shall be for life , eye for eye , tooth for tooth , hand for hand , foot for foot .

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