Deuteronomy 19:4

And this shall be the ordinance of the manslayer, who shall flee thither, and shall live, whosoever shall have smitten his neighbor ignorantly, whereas he hated him not in times past.

Updated Brenton Septuagint

In The King James Version

And this is the case of the slayer, which shall flee thither, that he may live: Whoso killeth his neighbour ignorantly, whom he hated not in time past;

In Context

3Take a survey of thy way, and thou shalt divide the coasts of thy land, which the Lord thy God apportions to thee, into three parts, and there shall be there a refuge for every manslayer.

5And whosoever shall enter with his neighbor into the thicket, to gather wood, if the hand of him that cuts wood with the axe should be violently shaken, and the axe head falling off from the handle should light on his neighbor, and he should die, he shall flee to one of these cities, and live.

Read all of Deuteronomy 19

Cross References

Genesis 31:2And Jacob saw the countenance of Laban, and behold it was not toward him as before.

Deuteronomy 4:42that the slayer might flee thither, who should have slain his neighbor unintentionally, and should not have hated him in times past, and he shall flee to one of these cities and live:

Joshua 3:4But let there be a distance between you and it; ye shall stand as much as two thousand cubits from it. Do not draw nigh to it, that ye may know the way which ye are to go; for ye have not gone the way before.

Isaiah 30:33For thou shalt be required before thy time: has it been prepared for thee also to reign? nay, God has prepared for thee a deep trench, wood piled, fire and much wood: the wrath of the Lord shall be as a trench kindled with sulphur.

Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 19:2-14

The Cities of Refuge. ( b. c. 1451.) 1 When the Lord thy God hath cut off the nations, whose land the Lord thy God giveth thee, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their cities, and in their houses; 2 Thou shalt separate three cities for thee in the midst of thy land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it. 3 Thou shalt prepare thee a way, and divide the coasts of thy land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee to inherit, into three parts, that every slayer may flee thither. 4 And this is the case of… Read the whole commentary →

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