Cities of Refuge (Numbers 35:9–34; Deuteronomy 4:41–43; Joshua 20:1–9)
1 UST Yahweh our God will destroy the people groups from the land that he is giving to you. You will drive them out from their towns and you start to live in their homes. After that, 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 UST you must divide into three parts the land that Yahweh 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 UST This is the rule for 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 UST There could be a case where two men go into the forest to cut some wood. The ax head might come off the handle while one of the men cuts wood. Then, the ax head might hit and kill the other man. In that case, the man who was using the ax may run to one of those cities and be safe there.{ 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 UST { If there were only one city for the killer to run to,} the killer could be very far away from a safe city. A judge may decide not to execute the killer because the killing was an accident. Then, a relative of the victim may seek revenge and kill the man in anger before the man can arrive at a safe 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 UST Therefore, I order you to choose three cities{ for this purpose}. BSB BSB: This is why I am commanding you to set apart for yourselves three cities.
8 UST Do everything that I am today commanding you to do. Love Yahweh our God and obey his instructions continually. If you do that, Yahweh our God will give you much more land{ than you will have when you first inhabit the land}. You will receive all the land according to what he promised your ancestors. When that happens, select three more cities{ in the new land for people to escape to}. 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 UST As a result, innocent people will not die, and you will not be guilty for allowing them to die 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 UST In a case where someone hates another person, he might hide and wait for this person to pass by. Then, he might attack and murder this person. In this situation, if the attacker flees to one of those cities, 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 UST the elders of the murderer’ s hometown{ are responsible for punishing him. They} must send someone to the city where the murderer is hiding and arrest him. Then they must bring him to the victim’ s relative who is responsible for avenging the murder so that the relative may execute the murderer. 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 UST Do not pity killers!{ Instead, you must execute them.} This is so that you Israelites will not be responsible for the deaths of innocent people. This is also so that you may prosper. 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 UST In the land that Yahweh is giving you, your ancestors placed stones to mark the borders of properties. When you occupy that land, do not move those markers. 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 UST When someone accuses another person of any kind of wrong activity or of sinning in any way, one person who says,‘I saw him do it’ is not enough{ to convict him}. There must be at least two or three people who say that they saw him do it in order for the judge to accept 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 UST Suppose that someone falsely testifies that they saw a man sin. BSB BSB: If a false witness testifies against someone, accusing him of a crime,
17 UST Both the accuser and the accused must go to the place of worship. There, they must 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 UST then the people must punish the false witness. The punishment must be the same as the punishment he suggested for the man that he accused. As a result, you will make sure no one from Israel does this evil action. 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 UST The rest of the Israelites will learn about the punishment. They will be afraid of the punishment, so they will not testify falsely. 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 UST Do not pity that person. If he killed someone, you must kill him. In the same way,{ if he harmed} someone’ s eye, tooth, hand, or foot,{ you must cause the same harm to him}. 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.