Cities of Refuge and Truthful Witnesses

19:1 When the Lord your God destroys the nations whose land he is about to give you and you dispossess them and settle in their cities and houses, 19:2 you must set apart for yourselves three cities in the middle of your land that the Lord your God is giving you as a possession. 19:3 You shall build a roadway and divide into thirds the whole extent of your land that the Lord your God is providing as your inheritance; anyone who kills another person should flee to the closest of these cities. 19:4 Now this is the law pertaining to one who flees there in order to live, if he has accidentally killed another without hating him at the time of the accident. 19:5 Suppose he goes with someone else to the forest to cut wood and when he raises the ax to cut the tree, the ax head flies loose from the handle and strikes his fellow worker so hard that he dies. The person responsible may then flee to one of these cities to save himself. 19:6 Otherwise the blood avenger will chase after the killer in the heat of his anger, eventually overtake him, and kill him, though this is not a capital case since he did not hate him at the time of the accident. 19:7 Therefore, I am commanding you to set apart for yourselves three cities. 19:8 If the Lord your God enlarges your borders as he promised your ancestors and gives you all the land he pledged to them, 19:9 and then you are careful to observe all these commandments I am giving you today (namely, to love the Lord your God and to always walk in his ways), then you must add three more cities to these three. 19:10 You must not shed innocent blood in your land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, for that would make you guilty. 19:11 However, suppose a person hates someone else and stalks him, attacks him, kills him, and then flees to one of these cities. 19:12 The elders of his own city must send for him and remove him from there to deliver him over to the blood avenger to die. 19:13 You must not pity him, but purge out the blood of the innocent from Israel, so that it may go well with you. 19:14 You must not encroach on your neighbor’s property, which will have been defined in the inheritance you will obtain in the land the Lord your God is giving you. 19:15 A single witness may not testify against another person for any trespass or sin that he commits. A matter may be legally established only on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 19:16 If a false witness testifies against another person and accuses him of a crime, 19:17 then both parties to the controversy must stand before the Lord, that is, before the priests and judges who will be in office in those days. 19:18 The judges will thoroughly investigate the matter, and if the witness should prove to be false and to have given false testimony against the accused, 19:19 you must do to him what he had intended to do to the accused. In this way you will purge evil from among you. 19:20 The rest of the people will hear and become afraid to keep doing such evil among you. 19:21 You must not show pity; the principle will be a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, and a foot for a foot.

Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NET) are from the NET Bible®, copyright ©1996, 2019 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved.

God gave Israel laws to protect life, land, and justice in the promised land. An accidental killer could flee to a city of refuge, but a murderer had to be punished. Israel also had to respect property boundaries and require truthful witnesses in court.

This law taught Israel to hold mercy and justice together. If someone killed another person by accident and without hatred, that person could flee to a city of refuge for safety. The city protected the accidental killer from the blood avenger until the case was judged.

But if a person hated another, stalked him, and killed him, refuge was not meant to protect him. He had to be handed over and punished. God said this so innocent blood would not remain in the land.

The passage also forbids moving a neighbor’s boundary marker. In the land of inheritance, that would be theft. Then it gives rules for court cases: one witness was not enough to convict, and false witness was a serious sin. Judges had to investigate carefully. If a witness lied, he was to receive the penalty he meant for the other person. This warned the people to fear evil and keep justice pure.

• God provides refuge for the one who kills by accident.
• Intentional murder must be punished.
• Innocent blood defiles the land.
• God’s people must not steal land by moving boundaries.
• A charge must be confirmed by two or three witnesses.
• False witness is evil and deserves strong judgment.
• Justice in God’s covenant people must be careful, truthful, and public.

• Set apart cities of refuge.
• Do not shed innocent blood.
• Do not pity the murderer.
• Do not move your neighbor’s boundary marker.
• Do not accept a charge from only one witness.
• Investigate testimony carefully.
• Do not give false witness.
• Purge evil from among you.

This passage belongs to Israel’s life under the Mosaic covenant in the promised land. It shows God preserving a holy people through ordered justice, protection for the innocent, and punishment for evil. It can be read within the wider Bible as part of God’s consistent concern for justice and mercy, while keeping the passage’s original civil purpose in Israel.

God cares about life, truth, and fairness. We should not rush to condemn, ignore evidence, or excuse evil. We should protect the innocent, tell the truth, and respect what belongs to others. Justice should not be driven by anger or by softheartedness toward guilt.

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