1 When the LORD your God {YHWH Eloheikha, Covenant Victor} destroys the nations {goyim: hostile peoples} whom the LORD your God gives to you, and you dispossess them and dwell in their cities and in their houses.
2 You shall set apart three cities in the midst of your land which the LORD your God {YHWH Elohekha, Divine Covenant Giver} is giving you to possess {lerishtah: as your inheritance}.
3 You shall prepare the way for yourself and divide the territory within the boundary {gevul: territorial boundary} of your land into three parts that the LORD your God {YHWH Elohekha, Covenant Inheritance-Giver} is giving you as an inheritance, so that every killer may flee there.
4 And this is the case concerning the manslayer {harotzeach: unintentional killer} who flees there and lives when he strikes his neighbor without knowledge {da’at: lack of intent}, provided that he had not hated him from yesterday or the day before.
5 And when a man goes with his neighbor into the forest to chop wood, and his hand swings the axe to fell the tree, and the iron {barzel: tool head} slips off the tree and strikes his neighbor so that he dies, he shall flee to one of these cities and live {chai: preserve his life}.
6 Lest the avenger of blood {go’el ha-dam: family redeemer and executor of justice} pursue the manslayer because his heart {levavo: inner passion} grows hot and he overtakes him—since the road is long—and strikes him so that he dies, though to him there is no judgment of death, for he did not hate him in time past, neither yesterday nor the day before.
7 Therefore I am commanding {metsavvekha: authoritative decree} you, saying: “You shall set apart three cities {arim: designated refuge sites} for yourself.”
8 And if the LORD your God {YHWH Eloheikha, Covenant Expander} enlarges your border {gevul: territorial boundary} as He swore to your ancestors, and gives you all the land that He spoke to give to your ancestors.
9 If you keep all this commandment to do it, which I am commanding you today, to love the LORD your God {YHWH Elohekha, Covenant Lord} and to walk in His ways {drakhav: pattern of life} all the days, then you shall add for yourself three more cities upon these three.
10 And let not innocent blood be shed in the midst of your land which the LORD your God {YHWH Elohekha, Covenant Protector} is giving you as an inheritance, so that there will not be bloodguilt {damim: responsibility for violence} upon you.
11 And if a man, hating his neighbor, lies in wait {arav: sets an ambush} for him, rises up against him, strikes him fatally, so that he dies, and flees to one of these cities {hearim: designated sanctuaries},
12 Then the elders {ziknei: community leaders} of his city shall send, take him from there, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood {goel hadam: family protector}, and he shall die.
13 You shall not have pity upon him, but you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood {dam: life-blood} from Israel {Israel: covenant community}, and it will be good for you.
14 You shall not move the boundary {gevul: territorial marker} of your neighbor, which the former ones set, in your inheritance which you are to inherit in the land that the LORD your God {YHWH Elohecha: Covenant Land-Giver} is giving you to possess.
15 A single witness shall not stand against a person for any iniquity {avon: perverse wrongdoing} or for any sin, concerning any offense which he may commit; a matter shall be established by the testimony of two witnesses {edim: legal confirmers} or by the testimony of three witnesses.
16 If a malicious witness {hamas: false accusation} arises against a man to testify against him regarding wrongdoing {sarah: serious transgression}.
17 Then the two men who have the dispute must stand before the LORD {YHWH, Supreme Arbiter}, before the priests {kohanim: consecrated ministers} and the judges who are in office in those days.
18 And the judges {shofetim: legal arbiters} shall investigate thoroughly, and behold, if the witness is a false witness {ed-sheqer: one bearing falsehood} and has testified falsehood against his brother.
19 And you shall do to him just as he intended to do to his brother, and you shall purge the evil {ra: moral wrongdoing} from your midst {qerev: inner community}.
20 And the ones remaining will hear and will fear {yirau: experience awe}, and they will not again do such an evil {hara: moral corruption} thing as this in your midst.
21 And your eye shall not have pity {tachos: refrain from compassion}; life {nefesh: personal life} for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.