1Når Herren, jeres Gud, har udryddet landets befolkning, og I slår jer ned i deres byer og huse,2skal I udvælge tre tilflugtsbyer, hvor drabsmænd kan søge tilflugt. Opdel landet i tre distrikter med en tilflugtsby i hvert distrikt, og sørg for, at vejene dertil er farbare.4Hvis nogen ved et uheld kommer til at slå et andet menneske ihjel, og der altså ikke er tale om en fjendtlig handling, kan vedkommende bringe sig i sikkerhed i en tilflugtsby.5Hvis to mænd f. eks. er ved at fælde et træ i skoven, og den enes øksehoved ryger af og slår den anden ihjel, kan drabsmanden flygte til nærmeste tilflugtsby,6og den dødes slægtning, som ønsker hævn, må ikke røre drabsmanden, så længe han befinder sig i tilflugtsbyen. Byerne skal ligge centralt i de tre distrikter, så man let og uhindret kan nå dem, ellers kan drabsmanden undervejs risikere at blive indhentet og dræbt af den dødes slægtning, på trods af at han ikke er skyldig i mord.8Hvis I fremover vil adlyde de befalinger, jeg pålægger jer i dag, så I elsker Herren, jeres Gud og holder jer til ham, vil han udvide jeres grænser, som han har lovet jeres forfædre, og da bliver der behov for endnu tre tilflugtsbyer,10hvor drabsmænd kan søge i sikkerhed. Derved undgår I, at uskyldige mennesker bliver dræbt ved et hævnmord.11Men hvis nogen af had til sin næste lægger sig på lur og slår ham ihjel med vilje, og morderen så bagefter søger sikkerhed i tilflugtsbyen,12skal byrådet i hans hjemby hente ham og udlevere ham til den myrdedes slægtninge, så de kan hævne mordet og slå morderen ihjel.13I så fald skal I ikke vise barmhjertighed, men I skal sørge for at rense landet for mordere, hvis I vil sikre dets fremtid.
Om retssikkerheden
14Når I har slået jer ned i det land, Herren giver jer, må I ikke stjæle jord fra hinanden ved at flytte de oprindelige markskel.15Fæld aldrig dom over nogen på et enkelt vidneudsagn. Der skal to eller tre samstemmende vidnesbyrd til, før en sag kan afgøres.16Hvis nogen aflægger falsk vidnesbyrd og anklager en anden for en forbrydelse, han ikke har begået,17skal både anklageren og den anklagede krydsforhøres af de dommere og præster, der på det tidspunkt gør tjeneste ved helligdommen.18Hvis det så viser sig, at anklageren lyver,19skal han idømmes den straf, den anklagede skulle have haft for den påståede forbrydelse. På den måde skal I udrydde det onde fra jeres midte20og derved forebygge, at andre vidner falsk.21I må ikke vise medlidenhed med den skyldige. Princippet er liv for liv, øje for øje, tand for tand, hånd for hånd og fod for fod.
English Standard Version
Laws Concerning Cities of Refuge
1“When the Lord your God cuts off the nations whose land the Lord your God is giving you, and you dispossess them and dwell in their cities and in their houses,2you shall set apart three cities for yourselves in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess.3You shall measure the distances* and divide into three parts the area of the land that the Lord your God gives you as a possession, so that any manslayer can flee to them.4“This is the provision for the manslayer, who by fleeing there may save his life. If anyone kills his neighbor unintentionally without having hated him in the past—5as when someone goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and his hand swings the axe to cut down a tree, and the head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies—he may flee to one of these cities and live,6lest the avenger of blood in hot anger pursue the manslayer and overtake him, because the way is long, and strike him fatally, though the man did not deserve to die, since he had not hated his neighbor in the past.7Therefore I command you, You shall set apart three cities.8And if the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as he has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land that he promised to give to your fathers—9provided you are careful to keep all this commandment, which I command you today, by loving the Lord your God and by walking ever in his ways—then you shall add three other cities to these three,10lest innocent blood be shed in your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, and so the guilt of bloodshed be upon you.11“But if anyone hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and attacks him and strikes him fatally so that he dies, and he flees into one of these cities,12then the elders of his city shall send and take him from there, and hand him over to the avenger of blood, so that he may die.13Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood* from Israel, so that it may be well with you.
Property Boundaries
14“You shall not move your neighbor’s landmark, which the men of old have set, in the inheritance that you will hold in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess.
Laws Concerning Witnesses
15“A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established.16If a malicious witness arises to accuse a person of wrongdoing,17then both parties to the dispute shall appear before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who are in office in those days.18The judges shall inquire diligently, and if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely,19then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother. So you shall purge the evil* from your midst.20And the rest shall hear and fear, and shall never again commit any such evil among you.21Your eye shall not pity. It shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
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