Deuteronomy · Updated Brenton English Septuagint
Deuteronomy 19 Updated Brenton English Septuagint
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (1)
- Same Septuagint text as Brenton, with modernised spelling.
1 And when the Lord thy God shall have destroyed the nations, which God gives thee, [even] the land, and ye shall inherit them, and dwell in their cities, and in their houses,
1 When Yahweh your God cuts off the nations whose land Yahweh your God gives you, and you succeed them and dwell in their cities and in their houses,
2 thou shalt separate for thyself three cities in the midst of thy land, which the Lord thy God gives thee.
2 you shall set apart three cities for yourselves in the middle of your land, which Yahweh your God gives you to possess.
3 Take 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.
3 You shall prepare the way, and divide the borders of your land which Yahweh your God causes you to inherit into three parts, that every man slayer may flee there.
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.
4 This is the case of the man slayer who shall flee there and live: Whoever kills his neighbor unintentionally, and didn’t hate him in time past—
5 And 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.
5 as when a man goes into the forest with his neighbor to chop wood and his hand swings the ax to cut down the tree, and the head slips from the handle and hits his neighbor so that he dies—he shall flee to one of these cities and live.
6 Lest the avenger of blood pursue after the slayer, because his heart is hot, and overtake him, if the way be too long, and slay him, though there is to this man no sentence of death, because he hated him not in time past.
6 Otherwise, the avenger of blood might pursue the man slayer while hot anger is in his heart and overtake him, because the way is long, and strike him mortally, even though he was not worthy of death, because he didn’t hate him in time past.
7 Therefore I charge thee, saying, Thou shalt separate for thyself three cities.
7 Therefore I command you to set apart three cities for yourselves.
8 And if the Lord shall enlarge thy borders, as he swore to thy fathers, and the Lord shall give to thee all the land which he said he would give to thy fathers;
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;
9 if thou shalt hearken to do all these commands, which I charge thee this day, to love the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways continually; thou shalt add for thyself yet three cities to these three.
9 and if you keep all this commandment to do it, which I command you today, to love Yahweh your God, and to walk ever in his ways, then you shall add three cities more for yourselves, in addition to these three.
10 So innocent blood shall not be spilt in the land, which the Lord thy God gives thee to inherit, and there shall not be in thee one guilty of blood.
10 This is so that innocent blood will not be shed in the middle of your land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance, leaving blood guilt on you.
11 But if there should be in thee a man hating his neighbor, and he should lay wait for him, and rise up against him, and smite him, that he die, and he should flee to one of these cities,
11 But if any man hates his neighbor, lies in wait for him, rises up against him, strikes him mortally so that he dies, and he flees into one of these cities;
12 then shall the elders of his city send, and take him thence, and they shall deliver him into the hands of the avengers of blood, and he shall die.
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.
13 Thine eye shall not spare him; so shalt thou purge innocent blood from Israel, and it shall be well with thee.
13 Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall purge the innocent blood from Israel that it may go well with you.
14 Thou shalt not move the landmarks of thy neighbor, which thy fathers set in the inheritance, in which thou hast obtained a share in the land, which the Lord thy God gives thee to inherit.
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.
15 One witness shall not stand to testify against a man for any iniquity, or for any fault, or for any sin which he may commit; by the mouth of two witnesses, or by the mouth of three witnesses, shall every word be established.
15 One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin that he sins. At the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall a matter be established.
16 And if an unjust witness rise up against a man, alleging iniquity against him;
16 If an unrighteous witness rises up against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing,
17 then shall the two men between whom the controversy is, stand before the Lord, and before the priests, and before the judges, who may be in those days.
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;
18 And the judges shall make diligent inquiry, and, behold, [if] an unjust witness has borne unjust testimony; [and] has stood up against his brother;
18 and the judges shall make diligent inquisition; and behold, if the witness is a false witness, and has testified falsely against his brother,
19 then shall ye do to him as he wickedly devised to do against his brother, and thou shalt remove the evil from yourselves.
19 then you shall do to him as he had thought to do to his brother. So you shall remove the evil from among you.
20 And the rest shall hear and fear, and do no more according to this evil thing in the midst of you.
20 Those who remain shall hear, and fear, and will never again commit any such evil among you.
21 Thine eye shall not spare him: [thou shalt exact] life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
21 Your eyes shall not pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
Cross references (20)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Deuteronomy 12:29; Deuteronomy 6:10; Deuteronomy 7:1–2; Deuteronomy 17:14; Deuteronomy 12:1
- 2 Exodus 21:13; Hebrews 6:18; Deuteronomy 4:41–43; Joshua 20:2–7; Numbers 35:10–15
- 3 Isaiah 57:14; Hebrews 12:13; Isaiah 62:10; Isaiah 35:8
- 4 Numbers 35:15–24; Deuteronomy 4:42; 1 Chronicles 11:2; Deuteronomy 19:6; Genesis 31:2
- 5 Proverbs 27:12; 2 Kings 6:5–7; Isaiah 32:2; Numbers 35:25
- 6 Numbers 35:12; 2 Samuel 14:7; Joshua 20:5; Deuteronomy 21:22; Jeremiah 26:15–16
- 8 Genesis 15:18–21; Exodus 34:24; Exodus 23:31; Deuteronomy 12:20; Ezra 4:20
- 9 Joshua 20:7–8; Deuteronomy 12:32; Deuteronomy 11:22–25
- 10 Isaiah 59:7; Proverbs 6:17; Matthew 27:4–5; Jonah 1:14; 1 Kings 2:31
- 11 Deuteronomy 27:24; Numbers 35:16–21; Numbers 35:24; Exodus 21:12–14; Proverbs 28:17
- 12 1 Kings 2:28–34; 1 Kings 2:5–6
- 13 1 Kings 2:31; Deuteronomy 7:2; Deuteronomy 21:9; Deuteronomy 7:16; 2 Samuel 21:1
- 14 Proverbs 22:28; Deuteronomy 27:17; Hosea 5:10; Job 24:2; Proverbs 23:10
- 15 Numbers 35:30; 2 Corinthians 13:1; Deuteronomy 17:6; Matthew 18:16; Hebrews 10:28
- 16 Psalm 27:12; Psalm 35:11; Exodus 23:1–7; 1 Kings 21:10–13; Acts 6:13
- 17 Deuteronomy 17:9; Deuteronomy 21:5; Malachi 2:7
- 18 Deuteronomy 17:4; Deuteronomy 13:14; Job 19:16; 2 Chronicles 19:6–7
- 19 Proverbs 19:5; Proverbs 19:9; Deuteronomy 22:24; Daniel 6:24; Deuteronomy 17:7
- 20 Deuteronomy 21:21; Deuteronomy 17:13; Deuteronomy 13:11; 1 Timothy 5:20; Romans 13:3–4
- 21 Matthew 5:38–39; Exodus 21:23–25; Deuteronomy 19:13; Leviticus 24:17–21
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
For it is a great question, my brethren, and to me it certainly appears to have been ordained in a mystery, where God said, "In the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall stand." Is truth sought by two witnesses?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 7 (1888)
What then, shall every word be established at the mouth of two of three witnesses, according to the Scripture, and, though twelve bear witness to the Resurrection of Christ, art thou still incredulous in regard to His Resurrection?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
I think so; for "at the mouth of two or three witnesses shall the matter be established." And if we could prove clearly to you that a long period of time was in our favour, should we not have seemed to you to urge with reason that this suit ought not to be brought into court against us?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 8 (1895)
For who speaketh in secret, that speaketh before so many persons; as it is written, "At the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established:" especially if that be spoken to a few which he wisheth to become known to many through them; as the Lord Himself said to the few whom He had as yet, "What …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 7 (1888)
… there was in that place a Title inscribed in Hebrew, in Greek, and in Latin, "The King of the Jews;" in three tongues as though by three witnesses the Title was confirmed: because "in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall stand every word."...
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)