Deuteronomy 19:13

Contemporary English Version

Israel, for the good of the whole country, you must kill anyone who murders an innocent person. Never show mercy to a murderer!

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Do not look on him with pity but purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, and you will prosper.

Hebrew Names Version
Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall put away the innocent blood from Yisra'el, that it may go well with you.

King James Version
Thine eye shall not pity him, but thou shalt put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with thee.

Lexham English Bible
Your eye shall not take pity on him, and you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, so that good will be directed toward you.

English Standard Version
Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, so that it may be well with you.

New Century Version
Show no mercy. You must remove from Israel the guilt of murdering innocent people so that things will go well for you.

New English Translation
You must not pity him, but purge out the blood of the innocent from Israel, so that it may go well with you.

Amplified Bible
"You shall not pity him [the guilty one], but you shall purge the blood of the innocent from Israel, so that it may go well with you.

New American Standard Bible
"You shall not pity him, but you shall eliminate the guilt for the bloodshed of the innocent from Israel, so that it may go well for you.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Thine eye shall not spare him, but thou shalt put away the crie of innocent blood from Israel, that it may goe well with thee.

Legacy Standard Bible
You shall not pity him, but you shall purge the blood of the innocent from Israel, that it may go well with you.

Complete Jewish Bible
You are not to pity him. Rather, you must put an end to the shedding of innocent blood in Isra'el. Then things will go well with you.

Darby Translation
Thine eye shall not spare him; and thou shalt put away innocent blood from Israel, that it may be well with thee.

Easy-to-Read Version
Don't feel sorry for him. He is guilty of killing an innocent person, and you must remove that guilt from Israel. Then everything will go well for you.

George Lamsa Translation
Your eyes shall not pity him, but you shall kill him, and thus purge the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with you.

Good News Translation
No mercy will be shown to you. Israel must rid itself of murderers, so that all will go well.

Literal Translation
Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall put away the innocent blood from Israel, and it shall be well with you.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
thine eye shal not pitie him, and the giltye bloude shalt thou put awaye fro Israel, that thou mayest prospere.

American Standard Version
Thine eye shall not pity him, but thou shalt put away the innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with thee.

Bible in Basic English
Have no pity on him, so that Israel may be clear from the crime of putting a man to death without cause, and it will be well for you.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Thine eye shall not spare hym, but thou shalt put away [the crye of] innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with thee.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Thine eye shall not pity him, but thou shalt put away the blood of the innocent from Israel, that it may go well with thee.

King James Version (1611)
Thine eye shall not pittie him, but thou shalt put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may goe wel with thee.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Thine eye shall not spare him; so shalt thou purge innocent blood from Israel, and it shall be well with thee.

English Revised Version
Thine eye shall not pity him, but thou shalt put away the innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with thee.

Berean Standard Bible
You must show him no pity. You are to purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, that it may go well with you.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
and he schal die, and thou schalt not haue mercy on hym; and thou schalt do awey gilti blood fro Israel, that it be wel to thee.

Young's Literal Translation
thine eye hath no pity on him, and thou hast put away the innocent blood from Israel, and it is well with thee.

Update Bible Version
Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall put away the innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with you.

Webster's Bible Translation
Thy eye shall not pity him, but thou shall remove [the guilt of] innocent blood from Israel, that it may be well with thee.

World English Bible
Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall put away the innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with you.

New King James Version
Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with you.

New Living Translation
Do not feel sorry for that murderer! Purge from Israel the guilt of murdering innocent people; then all will go well with you.

New Life Bible
Do not pity him. In Israel be free from the blood of those that are not guilty. Then it will go well with you.

New Revised Standard
Show no pity; you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, so that it may go well with you.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
thine eye shall not look with pity upon him, - so shall thou consume the shedding of innocent blood out of Israel and it shah go well with thee.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Thou shalt not pity him, and thou shalt take away the guilt of innocent blood out of Israel, that it may be well with thee.

Revised Standard Version
Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, so that it may be well with you.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"You shall not pity him, but you shall purge the blood of the innocent from Israel, that it may go well with you.

Contextual Overview

¹ Moses said to Israel: Soon you will go into the land and attack the nations. The Lord your God will destroy them and give you their lands, towns, and homes. Then after you are settled, ²you must choose three of your towns to be Safe Towns. Divide the land into three regions with one Safe Town near the middle of each, so that a Safe Town can be easily reached from anywhere in your land. Then, if one of you accidentally kills someone, you can run to a Safe Town and find protection from being put to death. But you must not have been angry with the person you killed. ⁵ For example, suppose you and a friend go into the forest to cut wood. You are chopping down a tree with an ax, when the ax head slips off the handle, hits your friend, and kills him. You can run to one of the Safe Towns and save your life. ⁶ You don't deserve to die, since you did not mean to harm your friend. But he did get killed, and his relatives might be very angry. They might even choose one of the men from their family to track you down and kill you. If it is too far to one of the Safe Towns, the victim's relative might be able to catch you and kill you. ⁷ That's why I said there must be three Safe Towns. ⁸Israel, the Lord your God has promised that if you obey his laws and teachings I'm giving you, and if you always love him, then he will give you the land he promised your ancestors. When that happens, you must name three more Safe Towns in the new territory. ¹⁰ You will need them, so innocent people won't be killed on your land while they are trying to reach a Safe Town that is too far away. You will be guilty of murder, if innocent people lose their lives because you didn't name enough Safe Towns in the land the Lord your God will give you. ¹¹ But what if you really do commit murder? Suppose one of you hates a neighbor. So you wait in a deserted place, kill the neighbor, and run to a Safe Town. ¹² If that happens, the leaders of your town must send messengers to bring you back from the Safe Town. They will hand you over to one of the victim's relatives, who will put you to death. ¹³ Israel, for the good of the whole country, you must kill anyone who murders an innocent person. Never show mercy to a murderer!

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Thine eye: Deuteronomy 7:16, Deuteronomy 13:8, Deuteronomy 25:12, Ezekiel 16:5

but thou: Deuteronomy 21:9, Genesis 9:6, Leviticus 24:17, Leviticus 24:21, Numbers 35:33, Numbers 35:34, 2 Samuel 21:1, 2 Samuel 21:14, 1 Kings 2:31

Reciprocal: Genesis 45:20 - regard not Deuteronomy 5:29 - that it might Deuteronomy 19:10 - General Deuteronomy 19:21 - thine eye Matthew 27:25 - His Hebrews 10:28 - without

Cross-References

Genesis 13:13
where the people were evil and sinned terribly against the Lord .

Genesis 18:20
The Lord said, "Abraham, I have heard that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah are doing all kinds of evil things.

Genesis 19:1
That evening the two angels arrived in Sodom, while Lot was sitting near the city gate. When Lot saw them, he got up, bowed down low,

Genesis 19:5
and started shouting, "Where are your visitors? Send them out, so we can have sex with them!"

Genesis 19:6
Lot went outside and shut the door behind him.

Genesis 19:8
I have two daughters who have never been married. I'll bring them out, and you can do what you want with them. But don't harm these men. They are guests in my home."

Genesis 19:9
"Don't get in our way," the crowd answered. "You're an outsider. What right do you have to order us around? We'll do worse things to you than we're going to do to them." The crowd kept arguing with Lot. Finally, they rushed toward the door to break it down.

Genesis 19:12
The two angels said to Lot, "The Lord has heard many terrible things about the people of Sodom, and he has sent us here to destroy the city. Take your family and leave. Take every relative you have in the city, as well as the men your daughters are going to marry."

Genesis 19:15
Early the next morning the two angels tried to make Lot hurry and leave. They said, "Take your wife and your two daughters and get out of here as fast as you can! If you don't, every one of you will be killed when the Lord destroys the city."

Genesis 19:16
At first, Lot just stood there. But the Lord wanted to save him. So the angels took Lot, his wife, and his two daughters by the hand and led them out of the city.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Thine eye shall not pity him,.... This is not said to the avenger of blood, who is not to be supposed to have any pity or compassion on such a person, but to the elders, judges, and civil magistrates of the city to which he belonged, who took cognizance of his case; these were to show him no favour on account of his being a citizen, a neighbour, a relation or friend, or a rich man, or on any account whatever; but without favour or affection were to judge him and put him to death as a murderer; see Numbers 35:21,

but thou shall put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel; by which they would be defiled, and be liable to punishment for it; see

Numbers 35:33, the Targum of Jonathan is,

"shall put away those that shed innocent blood out of Israel;''

put them away by death:

that it may go well with thee; with the whole land and its inhabitants, and with the city particularly, and the magistrates, and men of it, to which the murderer condemned to death belonged, being continued in the enjoyment of all temporal blessings and mercies.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

This and the next two chapters contain enactments designed to protect human life, and to impress its sanctity on Israel.

In Deuteronomy 19:1-13 the directions respecting the preparation of the roads to the cities of refuge, the provision of additional cities in case of an extension of territory, and the intervention of the elders as representing the congregation, are unique to Deuteronomy and supplementary to the laws on the same subject given in the earlier books (compare the marginal reference).

Deuteronomy 19:1, Deuteronomy 19:2

The three cities of refuge for the district east of Jordan had been already named. Moses now directs that when the territory on the west of Jordan had been conquered, a like allotment of three other cities in it should be made. This was accordingly done; compare Joshua 20:1 ff,

Deuteronomy 19:3

Thou shalt prepare thee a way - It was the duty of the Senate to repair the roads that led to the cities of refuge annually, and remove every obstruction. No hillock was left, no river over which there was not a bridge; and the road was at least 32 cubits broad. At cross-roads there were posts bearing the words Refuge, Refuge, to guide the fugitive in his flight. It seems as if in Isaiah 40:3 ff the imagery were borrowed from the preparation of the ways to the cities of refuge.

Deuteronomy 19:5

With the axe - literally, “with the iron.” Note the employment of iron for tools, and compare Deuteronomy 3:11 note.

Deuteronomy 19:8, Deuteronomy 19:9

Provision is here made for the anticipated enlargement of the borders of Israel to the utmost limits promised by God, from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates (Genesis 15:18, note; Exodus 23:31, note). This promise, owing to the sins of the people, did not receive its fulfillment until after David had conquered the Philistines, Syrians, etc.; and this but a transient one, for many of the conquered peoples regained independence on the dissolution of Solomon’s empire.