¹ When the LORD thy God hath cut off the nations, whose land the LORD thy God giveth thee, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their cities, and in their houses;

² Thou shalt separate three cities for thee in the midst of thy land which the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it.

³ Thou shalt prepare thee a way, and divide the limits of thy land which the LORD thy God giveth thee to inherit, into three parts, that every slayer may flee thither.

⁴ And this is the case of the slayer, who shall flee thither, that he may live: Whoever killeth his neighbor ignorantly, whom he hated not in time past;

⁵ As when a man goeth into the wood with his neighbor to hew wood, and his hand maketh a stroke with the ax to cut down the tree, and the head slippeth from the helve, and falleth upon his neighbor, that he dieth: he shall flee to one of these cities, and live:

⁶ Lest the avenger of blood shall pursue the slayer, while his heart is hot, and overtake him, because the way is long, and slay him; whereas he was not worthy of death, inasmuch as he hated him not in time past.

⁷ Wherefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt separate three cities for thee.

⁸ And if the LORD thy God shall enlarge thy limits, as he hath sworn to thy fathers, and give thee all the land which he promised to give to thy fathers;

⁹ If thou shalt keep all these commandments to do them, which I command thee this day, to love the LORD thy God, and to walk ever in his ways; then shalt thou add three cities more for thee, besides these three:

¹⁰ That innocent blood may not be shed in thy land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and so blood be upon thee.

¹¹ But if any man shall hate his neighbor, and lie in wait for him, and rise up against him, and smite him mortally, that he dieth, and he shall flee into one of these cities:

¹² Then the elders of his city shall send and bring him thence, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die.

¹³ Thy eye shall not pity him, but thou shall remove the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may be well with thee.

¹⁴ Thou shalt not remove thy neighbor's landmark, which they of old time have set in thy inheritance, which thou shalt inherit in the land that the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it.

¹⁵ One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth; at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.

¹⁶ If a false witness shall rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong;

¹⁷ Then both the men between whom the controversy is shall stand before the LORD, before the priests, and the judges, who shall be in those days;

¹⁸ And the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and behold, if the witness is a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother;

¹⁹ Then shall ye do to him, as he had thought to do to his brother: so shalt thou remove the evil from among you.

²⁰ And those who remain shall hear, and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you.

²¹ And thy eye shall not pity; but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

¹ Thou shalt not see thy brother's ox or his sheep go astray, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt in any case bring them again to thy brother.

² And if thy brother shall not be nigh to thee, or if thou shalt not know him, then thou shalt bring it to thy own house, and it shall be with thee until thy brother shall seek after it, and thou shalt restore it to him again.

³ In like manner shalt thou do with his ass; and so shalt thou do with his raiment; and with all lost things of thy brother's, which he hath lost, and thou hast found, shalt thou do likewise: thou mayest not hide thyself.

⁴ Thou shalt not see thy brother's ass or his ox fall down by the way, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt surely help him to lift them up again.

⁵ A woman shall not wear that which pertaineth to a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination to the LORD thy God.

⁶ If a bird's nest shall chance to be before thee in the way on any tree, or on the ground, whether with young ones, or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young:

⁷ But thou shalt in any wise let the dam go, and take the young to thee; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days.

⁸ When thou buildest a new house, then thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof, that thou mayest not bring blood upon thy house, if any man shall fall from thence.

⁹ Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers seeds: lest the fruit of thy seed which thou hast sown, and the fruit of thy vineyard, should be defiled.

¹⁰ Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together.

¹¹ Thou shalt not wear a garment of divers sorts, as of woolen and linen together.

¹² Thou shalt make thee fringes upon the four quarters of thy vesture, with which thou coverest thyself.

¹³ If any man shall take a wife, and go in to her, and hate her,

¹⁴ And give occasions of speech against her, and bring an evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found her not a maid:

¹⁵ Then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel's virginity to the elders of the city in the gate:

¹⁶ And the damsel's father shall say to the elders, I gave my daughter to this man for a wife, and he hateth her,

¹⁷ And lo, he hath given occasions of speech against her, saying, I found not thy daughter a maid; and yet these are the tokens of my daughter's virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city.

¹⁸ And the elders of that city shall take that man and chastise him;

¹⁹ And they shall amerce him in a hundred shekels of silver, and give them to the father of the damsel, because he hath brought an evil name upon a virgin of Israel: and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days.

²⁰ But if this thing shall be true, and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel:

²¹ Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she may die: because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to be guilty of lewdness in her father's house: so shalt thou remove evil from among you.

²² If a man shall be found lying with a woman married to a husband, then they shall both of them die, both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou remove evil from Israel.

²³ If a damsel that is a virgin shall be betrothed to a husband, and a man shall find her in the city, and lie with her;

²⁴ Then ye shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and ye shall stone them with stones that they may die; the damsel, because she cried not, being in the city; and the man, because he hath humbled his neighbor's wife: so thou shalt remove evil from among you.

²⁵ But if a man shall find a betrothed damsel in the field, and the man shall force her, and lie with her; then the man only that lay with her shall die:

²⁶ But to the damsel thou shalt do nothing; there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death: for as when a man riseth against his neighbor, and slayeth him, even so is this matter:

²⁷ For he found her in the field, and the betrothed damsel cried, and there was none to save her.

²⁸ If a man shall find a damsel that is a virgin, who is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found;

²⁹ Then the man that lay with her shall give to the damsel's father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days.

³⁰ A man shall not take his father's wife, nor discover his father's skirt.