Add parallel Print Page Options

“Now this is the case of the manslayer who may flee there and live there who has killed his neighbor unintentionally,[a] and he did not hate him previously.[b] For example,[c] when somebody goes with his neighbor into the forest to cut wood, and the iron head slips from the handle of the tool and strikes his neighbor and he dies, then he may flee to one of these cities, and so he may live. He does this lest the avenger of blood might pursue after the killer, because he is hot with anger[d] and he overtakes him, because it is a long distance to the city of refuge, and so he kills him,[e] but he did not deserve a death sentence,[f] because he was not hating him before.[g]

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 19:4 Literally “with no knowledge”
  2. Deuteronomy 19:4 Literally “from yesterday and the day before”
  3. Deuteronomy 19:5 Literally “And as”
  4. Deuteronomy 19:6 Literally “is hot his heart”
  5. Deuteronomy 19:6 Literally “he strikes him down as to his life/soul”
  6. Deuteronomy 19:6 Literally “for him there was not a judgment of death”
  7. Deuteronomy 19:6 Literally “from yesterday and the day before”

This is the rule concerning anyone who kills a person and flees there for safety—anyone who kills a neighbor unintentionally, without malice aforethought. For instance, a man may go into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and as he swings his ax to fell a tree, the head may fly off and hit his neighbor and kill him. That man may flee to one of these cities and save his life. Otherwise, the avenger of blood(A) might pursue him in a rage, overtake him if the distance is too great, and kill him even though he is not deserving of death, since he did it to his neighbor without malice aforethought.

Read full chapter