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CHAP. XIX.
1 The cities of refuge. 4 The privilege of them for the manslayer. 11 The wilfull murtherer must die. 14 The land-mark may not be removed. 15 Two witnesses at the least must stablish every matter. 16 A false witnesse must be diligently inquired into, and done unto as he had thought to doe unto his brother.
WHen Iehovah thy God hath cut [unspec 1] off the nations, whose land Ie∣hovah thy God giveth unto thee, and thou possessest them, and dwellest in their cities, and in their houses; Thou [unspec 2] shalt separate three cities for thee, in the midst of thy land, which Iehovah thy God giveth unto thee, to possesse it. Thou shalt prepare [unspec 3] for thee the way, and shalt divide into three parts the coast of thy land, which Iehovah thy God shall give thee to inherit; and it shall be, that every man-slayer may flee thither. And [unspec 4] this is the case of the man-slayer which shall flee thither and live: who so smiteth his neigh∣bour unwittingly, and he hated him not in time past; As when he commeth with his [unspec 5] neighbour into a wood, to hew trees, and his hand fetcheth a stroke with an axe to cut downe a tree, and the iron slippeth from the wood, and findeth his neighbour, and hee die; he shall flee unto one of these cities, and live. Lest the avenger of the bloud pursue [unspec 6] after the man-slayer while his heart is hot, and overtake him, because the way is long, and smite him in soule, and he had not the judge∣ment of death, because he hated him not in time past. Therefore I command thee, say∣ing; [unspec 7] Thou shalt separate for thee three ci∣ties. And if Iehovah thy God enlarge thy [unspec 8] coast, as he hath sworne unto thy fathers, and give unto thee all the land which he hath spo∣ken to give unto thy fathers: If thou shalt [unspec 9] keepe all this commandement, to do it, which I command thee this day, to love Iehovah thy God, and to walke in his wayes all dayes; then thou shalt adde three cities moe for thee, beside these three. That innocent bloud be [unspec 10] not shed within thy land, which Iehovah thy God giveth unto thee for an inheritance, and so blouds be upon thee. But if a man be a [unspec 11] hater of his neighbour, and lie in wait for him, and rise up against him, and smite him in soule that he die, and fleeth unto one of these ci∣ties: Then the Elders of his citie shall send, [unspec 12] and take him thence, and shall give him into the hand of the avenger of the bloud, and he shall die. Thine eye shall not spare him, and [unspec 13] thou shalt put away innocent bloud from Is∣rael, and it shall goe well with thee.
Thou shalt not remove thy neighbours li∣mit, [unspec 14] which the first fathers have limited, in thine inheritance which thou shalt inherit, in the land which Iehovah thy God giveth unto thee to possesse it.
One witnesse shall not rise up against a man [unspec 15] for any iniquitie, or for any sinne, in any sinne that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall a word be stablished.
When an unrighteous witnesse shall rise [unspec 16] up against a man, to testifie revolt against him: Then both the men, betweene whom [unspec 17] the controversie is, shall stand before Ieho∣vah, before the Priests and the Iudges which shall be in those dayes. And the Iudges [unspec 18] shall make diligent inquisition; and behold, if the witnesse be a false witnesse, and hath testified a falshood against his brother: Then shall yee doe unto him as hee had [unspec 19] thought to have done unto his brother; and thou shalt put away the evill from the midst of thee. And the residue shall heare and [unspec 20] feare, and shall not adde to doe any more such an evill thing as this in the midst of thee. And thine eye shall not spare: soule [unspec 21] for soule, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
Annotations.
THou shalt separate] in Ios. 20. 7. he useth the [unspec 2] word sanctified; in Num. 35. 11. shall appoint. Here Moses explaineth the sixt commandement, for some speciall lawes concerning it. three ci∣ties] besides those three which Moses had separa∣ted without the river, Deut. 4. 41, 43. These three cities were Kedesh, Shechem, and Hebron, Ios. 20. 7. They were all cities of the Levites: see Num. 35. 6. in the midst] that is, within thy land: as, in the midst of the citie, Ier. 52. 25. is the same that within the citie, 2 King. 25. 19. See also the notes on Gen. 2. 9. This is spoken, because there were no cities of refuge, but in the land which Israel pos∣sessed. See Num. 35. 2.
Vers. 3. shalt prepare] Of this it is said, The se∣nate [unspec 3] (or Magistrates in Israel) were bound to pre∣pare the wayes to the cities of refuge, to make them fit and broad, and to remove out of them all stumbling blocks and offences: and they suffered