Cities of Safety

19 “The Lord your God is giving you land that belongs to other nations. The Lord your God will destroy those nations. You will live where these people lived. You will take their cities and their houses. When that happens, ^2-3 you must divide the land that the Lord your God is giving you. Divide it into three parts and choose a city in the middle of each part that can be a place of safety. You must also build good roads to these cities. Then whoever kills another person may run to the closest city of safety.

⁴ “This is the rule for someone who kills another person and runs to one of these three cities for safety: It must be someone who killed another person accidentally, not out of hatred. ⁵ Here is an example: A man goes into the forest with another person to cut wood. The man swings his ax to cut down a tree, but the head of the ax separates from the handle. The ax head hits the other person and kills him. The man who swung the ax may then run to one of these three cities and be safe. ⁶ But if the city is too far away, he might not be able to run there fast enough. A close relative^[a] of the person he killed might run after him and catch him before he reaches the city. The relative might kill the man in anger, even though he did not deserve to die because he did not mean to harm anyone. ⁷ That is why I commanded you to choose three special cities.

⁸ “The Lord your God promised your fathers that he would make your land larger. He will give you all the land that he promised to give to your ancestors. ⁹ He will do this if you completely obey his commands that I give you today—if you love the Lord your God and always live the way he wants. Then, when he gives you more land, you should choose three more cities for safety. They should be added to the first three cities. ¹⁰ Then innocent people will not be killed in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. And you will not be guilty for any such deaths.

¹¹ “But suppose there is a man who hates his neighbor. That man might hide and wait to kill the person he hates. If he kills that person and runs to one of these cities of safety, ¹² the elders in his hometown must send someone to get him and take him away from the city of safety. These leaders must hand him over to the close relative. He is a murderer and he must die. ¹³ Don’t feel sorry for him. He is guilty of killing an innocent person, and you must remove that guilt from Israel. Then everything will go well for you.

Property Lines

¹⁴ “You must not move the stones that mark your neighbor’s property. People put them there in the past to mark each person’s property. These stones mark the land that the Lord your God gave you.

Witnesses

¹⁵ “If someone is accused of doing something against the law, one witness is not enough to prove that the person is guilty. There must be two or three witnesses to prove that the person really did wrong.

¹⁶ “A witness might try to hurt another person by lying and saying that this person did wrong. ¹⁷ If that happens, both of them must go to the Lord’s special house and be judged by the priests and judges who are on duty at that time. ¹⁸ When the judges carefully ask their questions, they might find that the witness lied against the other person. If the witnesses tell lies, ¹⁹ you must punish them with the same punishment the other person would have received. In this way you will remove this evil from your group. ²⁰ Other people will hear about this and be afraid, and people will not do evil things like that again.

²¹ “Don’t feel sorry about punishing someone who does wrong. If a life is taken, a life must be paid for it. The rule is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot—the punishment must equal the crime.

Rules for War

20 “When you go out to battle against your enemies, and you see horses, chariots, and many more people than you have, you must not be afraid of them. The Lord your God is with you—and he brought you out of Egypt.

² “When you go to the battle, the priest must go to the soldiers and speak to them. ³ The priest will say, ‘Men of Israel, listen to me! Today you are going against your enemies in battle. Don’t lose your courage. Don’t be troubled or upset. Don’t be afraid of the enemy. ⁴ The Lord your God is going with you to help you fight against your enemies. He will help you win!’

⁵ “The Levite officials will say to the soldiers, ‘Is there any man here who has built a new house but has not yet dedicated it? That man should go back home. He might be killed in the battle, and then another person will dedicate that man’s house. ⁶ Is there any man here who has planted a vineyard but has not yet gathered any of the grapes? That man should go back home. If that man dies in the battle, someone else will enjoy the fruit from his field. ⁷ Is there any man here who is engaged to be married? That man should go back home. If he dies in the battle, another man will marry the woman he is engaged to.’

⁸ “These Levite officials must also say to the people, ‘Is there any man here who has lost his courage and is afraid? He should go back home. Then he will not cause the other soldiers to lose their courage too.’ ⁹ Then, after the officers have finished speaking to the army, they must choose captains to lead the soldiers.

¹⁰ “When you go to attack a city, you must first offer peace to the people there. ¹¹ If they accept your offer and open their gates, all the people in that city will become your slaves and be forced to work for you. ¹² But if the city refuses to make peace with you and fights against you, you should surround the city. ¹³ And when the Lord your God lets you take the city, you must kill all the men in it. ¹⁴ But you may take for yourselves the women, the children, the cattle, and everything else in the city. You may use all these things. The Lord your God has given these things to you. ¹⁵ That is what you must do to all the cities that are very far from you—the cities that are not in the land where you will live.

¹⁶ “But when you take cities in the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you must kill everyone. ¹⁷ You must completely destroy all the people—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. The Lord your God has commanded you to do this. ¹⁸ So then they will not be able to teach you to sin against the Lord your God or to do any of the terrible things they do when they worship their gods.

¹⁹ “When you are making war against a city, you might surround that city for a long time. You must not cut down the fruit trees around that city. You may eat the fruit from these trees, but you must not cut them down. These trees are not the enemy, so don’t make war against them. ²⁰ But you may cut down the trees that you know are not fruit trees. You may use these trees to build weapons for making war against that city. You may use them until the city falls.