Cities of Refuge (Numbers 35:9–34; Deuteronomy 4:41–43; Joshua 20:1–9)
1 UDB After Yahweh our God has destroyed the peoples from the land that he is giving to you, and after you have driven them out from their cities and you start to live in their houses, BSB BSB: 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,
2 UDB you must divide into three parts the land that he is giving to you. Then select a city in each part. You must make good roads in order that people can get to those cities easily. Someone who kills another person can escape to one of those cities to be safe. BSB BSB: then you are to set apart for yourselves three cities within the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.
4 UDB This is the rule about someone who has killed another person. If someone accidentally kills another person who was not his enemy, he may escape to one of those cities and be safe. BSB BSB: 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:
5 UDB For example, if two men go into the forest to cut some wood, if the ax head comes off the handle while one of them is chopping down a tree and the ax head strikes and kills the other man, the man who was using the ax will be allowed to run to one of those cities and be safe there because the people of that city will protect him. BSB BSB: 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.
6 UDB Because he accidentally killed someone, and because the man was not his enemy, he can try to run to one of those cities. If there were only one city, it may be a long distance to that city. Then if the relative of the man who was killed to get revenge is very angry, he may be able to catch the other person before he arrives at that city. BSB BSB: 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.
7 UDB Therefore, I give you this command, that you select three cities for this purpose. BSB BSB: This is why I am commanding you to set apart for yourselves three cities.
8 UDB If you do everything that I am today commanding you to do, and if you love Yahweh our God, and if you conduct your lives as he wants you to do, Yahweh our God will give you much more land than you will have when you first occupy it, which is what he promised to do. He will give you all the land which he promised your ancestors that he would give to you. When he gives you that land, you must select three more cities to which people may escape. BSB BSB: And if the LORD your God enlarges your territory, as He swore to your fathers, and gives you all the land He promised them,
10 UDB Do this in order that people who are innocent will not die, and you will not be guilty for allowing them to be executed, in the land that Yahweh is giving to you. BSB BSB: 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.
11 UDB But suppose someone hates his enemy and hides and waits for that person to come along the road. Then when he passes by, suddenly he attacks him and murders him. If the attacker flees to one of those cities to be protected there, BSB BSB: If, however, a man hates his neighbor and lies in wait, attacks him and kills him, and then flees to one of these cities,
12 UDB the elders of the city where the murdered man lived must not protect the attacker. They must send someone to the city to which the other man escaped, and bring him to get revenge, so that he may execute that man. BSB BSB: the elders of his city must send for him, bring him back, and hand him over to the avenger of blood to die.
13 UDB You must not pity those who murder other people! Instead, you must execute them, in order that the people in the land of Israel will not be punished for murdering innocent people, and in order that things will go well for you. BSB BSB: 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.
14 UDB When you are living in the land that Yahweh our God is giving to you, do not move the markers of your neighbors' property boundaries that were placed there long ago. BSB BSB: 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.
The Testimony of Two or Three Witnesses (Matthew 18:15–20)
15 UDB If someone is accused of committing a crime, one person who says, 'I saw him do it' is not enough to find him guilty. There must be at least two people who say, 'We saw him do it.' If there is only one witness, the judge must not believe that what he says is true. BSB BSB: 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.
16 UDB Or suppose that someone tries to do wrong to another person by falsely accusing him. BSB BSB: If a false witness testifies against someone, accusing him of a crime,
17 UDB Then both of them must go to the place where the people worship, to talk to the priests and judges who are serving at that time. BSB BSB: 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 UDB that person must be punished in the same way that the other one would have been punished if the judges had decided that he was guilty. By punishing such people, you will get rid of this evil practice from among you. BSB BSB: you must do to him as he intended to do to his brother. So you must purge the evil from among you.
20 UDB And when that person is punished, everyone will hear what has happened, and they will be afraid, and no one will dare to act that way anymore. BSB BSB: Then the rest of the people will hear and be afraid, and they will never again do anything so evil among you.
21 UDB You must not pity people who are punished like that. The rule should be that a person who has murdered someone else must be executed; one of a person's eyes must be gouged out if he has gouged out someone else's eye, one tooth of a person who has knocked out the tooth of another person must be knocked out; one hand of a person who has cut off the hand of another person must likewise be cut off; one foot of a person who has cut off the foot of another person must also be cut off. BSB BSB: You must show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.