May
2
Deuteronomy
19, 20
Deu
19:1 When Yahweh your God shall cut off the nations, whose land
Yahweh your God gives you, and you succeed them, and dwell in their
cities, and in their houses;
Deu
19:2 you shall set apart three cities for you in the midst of your
land, which Yahweh your God gives you to possess it.
Deu
19:3 You shall prepare you the way, and divide the borders of your
land, which Yahweh your God causes you to inherit, into three parts,
that every manslayer may flee there.
Deu
19:4 This is the case of the manslayer, that shall flee there and
live: whoever kills his neighbor unawares, and didn't hate him in
time past;
Deu
19:5 as when a man goes into the forest with his neighbor to chop
wood, and his hand fetches a stroke with the axe to cut down the
tree, and the head slips from the handle, and lights on his neighbor,
so that he dies; he shall flee to one of these cities and live:
Deu
19:6 lest the avenger of blood pursue the manslayer, while his heart
is hot, and overtake him, because the way is long, and strike him
mortally; whereas he was not worthy of death, inasmuch as he didn't
hate him in time past.
Deu
19:7 Therefore I command you, saying, You shall set apart three
cities for yourselves.
Deu
19:8 If Yahweh your God enlarges your border, as he has sworn to
your fathers, and gives you all the land which he promised to give to
your fathers;
Deu
19:9 if you keep all this commandment to do it, which I command you
this day, to love Yahweh your God, and to walk ever in his ways; then
you shall add three cities more for yourselves, besides these three:
Deu
19:10 that innocent blood not be shed in the midst of your land,
which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance, and so blood be
on you.
Deu
19:11 But if any man hates his neighbor, and lies in wait for him,
and rises up against him, and strikes him mortally so that he dies,
and he flees into one of these cities;
Deu
19:12 then the elders of his city shall send and bring him there,
and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may
die.
Deu
19:13 Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall put away the
innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with you.
Deu
19:14 You shall not remove your neighbor's landmark, which they of
old time have set, in your inheritance which you shall inherit, in
the land that Yahweh your God gives you to possess it.
Deu
19:15 One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity,
or for any sin, in any sin that he sins: at the mouth of two
witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall a matter be
established.
Deu
19:16 If an unrighteous witness rise up against any man to testify
against him of wrongdoing,
Deu
19:17 then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall
stand before Yahweh, before the priests and the judges who shall be
in those days;
Deu
19:18 and the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold,
if the witness is a false witness, and has testified falsely against
his brother;
Deu
19:19 then you shall do to him as he had thought to do to his
brother: so you shall put away the evil from the midst of you.
Deu
19:20 Those who remain shall hear, and fear, and shall henceforth
commit no more any such evil in the midst of you.
Deu
19:21 Your eyes shall not pity; life shall
go for life, eye for eye, tooth for
tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
Deu
20:1 When you go forth to battle against your enemies, and see
horses, and chariots, and
a people more than you, you shall not be afraid of them; for Yahweh
your God is with you, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
Deu
20:2 It shall be, when you draw near to the battle, that the priest
shall approach and speak to the people,
Deu
20:3 and shall tell them, Hear, Israel, you draw near this day to
battle against your enemies: don't let your heart faint; don't be
afraid, nor tremble, neither be scared of them;
Deu
20:4 for Yahweh your God is he who goes with you, to fight for you
against your enemies, to save you.
Deu
20:5 The officers shall speak to the people, saying, What man is
there who has built a new house, and has not dedicated it? let him go
and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man
dedicate it.
Deu
20:6 What man is there who has planted a vineyard, and has not used
its fruit? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the
battle, and another man use its fruit.
Deu
20:7 What man is there who has pledged to be married a wife, and has
not taken her? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the
battle, and another man take her.
Deu
20:8 The officers shall speak further to the people, and they shall
say, What man is there who is fearful and fainthearted? let him go
and return to his house, lest his brother's heart melt as his heart.
Deu
20:9 It shall be, when the officers have made an end of speaking to
the people, that they shall appoint captains of armies at the head of
the people.
Deu
20:10 When you draw near to a city to fight against it, then
proclaim peace to it.
Deu
20:11 It shall be, if it makes you answer of peace, and opens to
you, then it shall be, that all the people who are found therein
shall become tributary to you, and shall serve you.
Deu
20:12 If it will make no peace with you, but will make war against
you, then you shall besiege it:
Deu
20:13 and when Yahweh your God delivers it into your hand, you shall
strike every male of it with the edge of the sword:
Deu
20:14 but the women, and the little ones, and the livestock, and all
that is in the city, even all its spoil, you shall take for a prey to
yourself; and you shall eat the spoil of your enemies, which Yahweh
your God has given you.
Deu
20:15 Thus you shall do to all the cities which are very far off
from you, which are not of the cities of these nations.
Deu
20:16 But of the cities of these peoples, that Yahweh your God gives
you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes;
Deu
20:17 but you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite, and the
Amorite, the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the
Jebusite; as Yahweh your God has commanded you;
Deu
20:18 that they not teach you to do after all their abominations,
which they have done to their gods; so would you sin against Yahweh
your God.
Deu
20:19 When you shall besiege a city a long time, in making war
against it to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an
axe against them; for you may eat of them, and you shall not cut them
down; for is the tree of the field man, that it should be besieged of
you?
Deu
20:20 Only the trees of which you know that they are not trees for
food, you shall destroy and cut them down; and you shall build
bulwarks against the city that makes war with you, until it fall.