Deuteronomy 19 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
~1406 BC, the fortieth year after the exodus from Egypt
Location
The plains of Moab, east of the Jordan, looking toward a land that will soon be divided among the tribes
Audience
The second generation of Israelites, preparing to settle territory and govern themselves without Moses
Situation
Moses commands three cities of refuge on the west side of the Jordan, with three more if the territory expands, so that someone who kills another by accident can flee to safety. He also forbids moving a neighbor's boundary marker and sets strict penalties for witnesses who lie in court.
Key Background
In this world justice for a killing was the family's job: a relative known as the avenger of blood was expected to pursue the killer, and there was no waiting period for the facts to be sorted out. Cities of refuge, spread so no one was more than a day's travel from one, gave an accidental killer a place to stand until a proper hearing could happen, which is an early form of protection against mob justice. Boundary markers were simple stones at the edge of a field, easy to shift by night, and since a family's land was its inheritance and its food supply, moving one was theft of a household's future rather than a petty offense.
When Yahweh your God has out the whose land Yahweh your God is giving you, and you've displaced them and settled in their cities and houses,
you are to three cities for yourselves in the middle of the land that Yahweh your God is giving you to take possession of.
You are to prepare the roads and divide the territory of the land that Yahweh your God is giving you as an into three sections, so that anyone who kills a person can flee there.
Here is the rule for someone who kills another person and flees there to save his life — someone who strikes his neighbor to, when he had no prior hatred toward him:
For example, a man goes into the forest with his neighbor to chop wood, and as he swings the axe to cut down a tree, the iron head flies off the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies—that man may flee to one of these cities and save his life.
Otherwise, the might chase the killer in the heat of his anger, and because the distance is too far, catch up with him and strike him dead — even though he didn't deserve a death sentence, since he had no prior hatred toward his neighbor.
That's why I'm commanding you: set aside three cities.
And if Yahweh your God expands your territory, just as he to your ancestors, and gives you all the land he promised to give them —
provided you carefully keep this entire set of commands I'm giving you today, Yahweh your God and in for all time — then you are to add three more cities to these three.
This way, won't be shed in the land that Yahweh your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you won't bear the guilt of bloodshed.
But if someone hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him, ambushes him, and strikes him fatally so that he dies, and then flees to one of these cities—
the of his own city must send for him, bring him back from there, and hand him over to the blood avenger to be put to death.
Show him no pity. You must the guilt of innocent bloodshed from Israel so that things will go well for you.
You must not move your neighbor's which was set in place by previous generations in the inheritance you will receive in the land that Yahweh your God is giving you to possess.
A single must not stand against a person for any wrongdoing or offense, whatever the offense may be. A charge must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.
If a takes the stand against someone, accusing them of a crime,
both parties in the dispute must the priests and the judges who are serving at that time.
The judges must If the witness turns out to be a liar who gave false testimony against his fellow Israelite,
then you must do to him exactly what he intended to do to his fellow Israelite. You must this kind of from among you.
The rest of the people will hear about it and be afraid, and no one among you will ever do such a wrong thing again.
Show no pity: for for tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.