Deuteronomy 19:12

Easy-to-Read Version

the elders in his hometown must send someone to get him and take him away from the city of safety. These leaders must hand him over to the close relative. He is a murderer and he must die.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
the elders of his city are to send for him, take him from there, and hand him over to the avenger of blood and he will die.

Hebrew Names Version
then the Zakenim of his city shall send and bring him there, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die.

King James Version
Then the elders of his city shall send and fetch him thence, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die.

Lexham English Bible
then the elders of his city shall send and take him from there, and they shall give him into the hand of the avenger of blood, and he shall be put to death.

English Standard Version
then 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.

New Century Version
the elders of his own city should send for the murderer. They should bring the person back from the city of safety and hand him over to the relative who has the duty of punishing the murderer.

New English Translation
The elders of his own city must send for him and remove him from there to deliver him over to the blood avenger to die.

Amplified Bible
then the elders of his own city shall send for him and have him taken back from there and turn him over to the avenger of blood, so that he may be put to death.

New American Standard Bible
then the elders of his city shall send men and take him from there, and hand him over to the avenger of blood, so that he may die.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Then the Elders of his citie shal send and set him thence, and deliuer him into the hands of the auenger of the blood, that he may die.

Legacy Standard Bible
then the elders of his city shall send and take him from there and give him over into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die.

Contemporary English Version
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.

Complete Jewish Bible
then the leaders of his own town are to send and bring him back from there and hand him over to the next-of-kin avenger, to be put to death.

Darby Translation
then the elders of his city shall send and fetch him thence, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die.

George Lamsa Translation
Then the elders of his city shall send and fetch him from there, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, and he shall slay him.

Good News Translation
In that case, the leaders of your own town are to send for you and hand you over to the relative responsible for taking revenge for the murder, so that you may be put to death.

Literal Translation
then the elders of his city shall send and bring from him there, and give him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
then shall the Elders of the same cite sende thither, and cause him to be fetched from thence, and delyuer him in to the handes of the auenger of bloude, that he maye dye:

American Standard Version
then the elders of his city shall send and fetch him thence, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die.

Bible in Basic English
The responsible men of his town are to send and take him, and give him up to the one who has the right of punishment to be put to death.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
The elders of his citie shall sende and fetch hym thence, and deliuer hym into the handes of the auenger of blood, that he may dye.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
then the elders of his city shall send and fetch him thence, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die.

King James Version (1611)
Then the Elders of his citie shall send and fetch him thence, and deliuer him into the hand of the auenger of blood, that he may die.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
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.

English Revised Version
then the elders of his city shall send and fetch him thence, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die.

Berean Standard Bible
the elders of his city must send for him, bring him back, and hand him over to the avenger of blood to die.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
the eldere men of that citee schulen sende, and `thei schulen take hym fro the place of refuyt; and thei schulen bitake hym in to the hond of the nexte kynesman of hym, whos blood is sched out,

Young's Literal Translation
then the elders of his city have sent and taken him from thence, and given him into the hand of the redeemer of blood, and he hath died;

Update Bible Version
then the elders of his city shall send and fetch him from there, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die.

Webster's Bible Translation
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.

World English Bible
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.

New King James Version
then the elders of his city shall send and bring him from there, and deliver him over to the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die.

New Living Translation
In that case, the elders of the murderer's hometown must send agents to the city of refuge to bring him back and hand him over to the dead person's avenger to be put to death.

New Life Bible
Then the leaders of his city should send men to take him from there and bring him to the one who wants to punish him for the killing that he may die.

New Revised Standard
then the elders of the killer's city shall send to have the culprit taken from there and handed over to the avenger of blood to be put to death.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
then shall the elders of his city send and fetch him from thence, - and deliver him into the hand of the blood redeemer that he die;

Douay-Rheims Bible
The ancients of his city shall send, and take him out of the place of refuge, and shall deliver him into the hand of the kinsman of him whose blood was shed, and he shall die.

Revised Standard Version
then the elders of his city shall send and fetch him from there, and hand him over to the avenger of blood, so that he may die.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
then the elders of his city shall send and take him from there and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die.

Contextual Overview

¹ "The Lord your God is giving you land that belongs to other nations. The Lord your God will destroy those nations. You will live where these people lived. You will take their cities and their houses. When that happens, ²you must divide the land that the Lord your God is giving you. Divide it into three parts and choose a city in the middle of each part that can be a place of safety. You must also build good roads to these cities. Then whoever kills another person may run to the closest city of safety. ⁴ "This is the rule for someone who kills another person and runs to one of these three cities for safety: It must be someone who killed another person accidentally, not out of hatred. ⁵ Here is an example: A man goes into the forest with another person to cut wood. The man swings his ax to cut down a tree, but the head of the ax separates from the handle. The ax head hits the other person and kills him. The man who swung the ax may then run to one of these three cities and be safe. ⁶ But if the city is too far away, he might not be able to run there fast enough. A close relative of the person he killed might run after him and catch him before he reaches the city. The relative might kill the man in anger, even though he did not deserve to die because he did not mean to harm anyone. ⁷ That is why I commanded you to choose three special cities. ⁸ "The Lord your God promised your fathers that he would make your land larger. He will give you all the land that he promised to give to your ancestors. ⁹ He will do this if you completely obey his commands that I give you today—if you love the Lord your God and always live the way he wants. Then, when he gives you more land, you should choose three more cities for safety. They should be added to the first three cities. ¹⁰ Then innocent people will not be killed in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. And you will not be guilty for any such deaths. ¹¹ "But suppose there is a man who hates his neighbor. That man might hide and wait to kill the person he hates. If he kills that person and runs to one of these cities of safety,

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

1 Kings 2:5, 1 Kings 2:6, 1 Kings 2:28-34

Reciprocal: Leviticus 24:17 - And he Numbers 35:12 - until he stand Numbers 35:19 - General Deuteronomy 21:9 - shalt thou Deuteronomy 27:24 - General 2 Samuel 14:7 - the whole 1 Kings 2:31 - that thou

Cross-References

Genesis 7:1
Then the Lord said to Noah, "I have seen that you are a good man, even among the evil people of this time. So gather your family, and all of you go into the boat.

Genesis 19:14
So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, the men who had married his other daughters. He said, "Hurry and leave this city! The Lord will soon destroy it!" But they thought he was joking.

Genesis 19:17
So after the two men brought Lot and his family out of the city, one of the men said, "Now run to save your life! Don't look back at the city, and don't stop anywhere in the valley. Run until you are in the mountains. If you stop, you will be destroyed with the city!"

Genesis 19:22
But run there quickly. I cannot destroy Sodom until you are safely in that town." (That town is named Zoar, because it is a small town.)

Genesis 19:23
Lot was entering the town as the sun came up,

Numbers 16:26
Moses warned the people, "Move away from the tents of these evil men. Don't touch anything that belongs to them! If you do, you will be destroyed because of their sins."

Jeremiah 32:39
I will give them the desire to be one, united people. They will have one goal—to worship me all their lives. They and their children will want to do this.

2 Peter 2:7
But he saved Lot, a good man who lived there. Lot was greatly troubled by the morally bad lives of those evil people.

2 Peter 2:9
So you see that the Lord God knows how to save those who are devoted to him. He will save them when troubles come. And the Lord will hold evil people to punish them on the day of judgment.

Revelation 18:4
Then I heard another voice from heaven say, "Come out of that city, my people, so that you will not share in her sins. Then you will not suffer any of the terrible punishment she will get.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Then the elders of his city shall send and fetch him thence,.... The Targum of Jonathan is,

"the wise men of his city,''

the sanhedrim, or court of judicature, or at least the civil magistrates of that city, to which such a murderer belonged, had a power to send to the city of refuge whither he was fled, and demand the delivering of him up to them, that his case might be tried before them, and it might appear whether he was a proper person to receive the benefit of the city of refuge or not, and if not, to pass sentence of death upon him, and see it executed as follows:

and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die; that is, after the examination and trial of him, and when he is found guilty, and sentence is passed upon him, then he was to be delivered into the hands of the avenger of blood, to be the executioner of that sentence.

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.