Deuteronomy 19:21

Young's Literal Translation

and thine eye doth not pity -- life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Do not show pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot.

Hebrew Names Version
Your eyes shall not pity; life [shall go] for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

King James Version
And thine eye shall not pity; but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Lexham English Bible
You must show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot."

English Standard Version
Your eye shall not pity. It shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

New Century Version
Show no mercy. A life must be paid for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot.

New English Translation
You must not show pity; the principle will be a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, and a foot for a foot.

Amplified Bible
"You shall not show pity [to the guilty one]: it shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

New American Standard Bible
"So you shall not show pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Therefore thine eye shall have no compassion, but life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foote for foote.

Legacy Standard Bible
Thus your eye shall not show pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Complete Jewish Bible
Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Darby Translation
And thine eye shall not spare: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Easy-to-Read Version
"Don't feel sorry about punishing someone who does wrong. If a life is taken, a life must be paid for it. The rule is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot—the punishment must equal the crime.

George Lamsa Translation
And your eye shall not pity; but life shall be for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Good News Translation
In such cases show no mercy; the punishment is to be a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, and a foot for a foot.

Literal Translation
And your eye shall not pity; life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Thine eye shall not pitie him. Soule for soule, eye for eye, tothe for tothe, hande for hande, fote for fote.

American Standard Version
And thine eyes shall not pity; life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Bible in Basic English
Have no pity; let life be given for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And thine eye shall haue no copassion, but lyfe for lyfe, eye for eye, toothe for toothe, hande for hande, foote for foote.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And thine eye shall not pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

King James Version (1611)
And thine eye shall not pitie, but life shall goe for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Thine eye shall not spare him: thou shalt exact life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

English Revised Version
And thine eye shall not pity; life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Berean Standard Bible
You must show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Thou schalt not haue mercy on hym, but thou schalt axe lijf for lijf, iye for iye, tooth for tooth, hond for hond, foot for foot.

Update Bible Version
And your eyes shall not pity; life [shall go] for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Webster's Bible Translation
And thy eye shall not pity; [but] life [shall go] for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

World English Bible
Your eyes shall not pity; life [shall go] for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

New King James Version
Your eye shall not pity: life shall be for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

New Living Translation
You must show no pity for the guilty! Your rule should be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

New Life Bible
Do not pity him. It will be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

New Revised Standard
Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
neither shall thine eye pity, - life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Thou shalt not pity him, but shalt require life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Revised Standard Version
Your eye shall not pity; it shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Thus you shall not show pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Contextual Overview

¹⁴ `Thou dost not remove a border of thy neighbour, which they of former times have made, in thine inheritance, which thou dost inherit in the land which Jehovah thy God is giving to thee to possess it. <sup>15</sup> `One witness doth not rise against a man for any iniquity, and for any sin, in any sin which he sinneth; by the mouth of two witnesses, or by the mouth of three witnesses, is a thing established. ¹⁶ `When a violent witness doth rise against a man, to testify against him apostacy, <sup>17</sup> then have both the men who have the strife stood before Jehovah, before the priests and the judges who are in those days, <sup>18</sup> and the judges have searched diligently, and lo, the witness [is] a false witness, a falsehood he hath testified against his brother: <sup>19</sup> `Then ye have done to him as he devised to do to his brother, and thou hast put away the evil thing out of thy midst, ²⁰ and those who are left do hear and fear, and add not to do any more according to this evil thing in thy midst; ²¹ and thine eye doth not pity -- life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

thine eye: Deuteronomy 19:13

life shall: Exodus 21:23-25, Leviticus 24:17-21, Matthew 5:38, Matthew 5:39

Reciprocal: Genesis 45:20 - regard not Exodus 21:20 - smite Exodus 21:24 - General Leviticus 24:19 - General Leviticus 24:20 - General Deuteronomy 7:16 - thine eye Deuteronomy 25:12 - General

Cross-References

Genesis 4:7
Is there not, if thou dost well, acceptance? and if thou dost not well, at the opening a sin-offering is crouching, and unto thee its desire, and thou rulest over it.'

Genesis 12:2
And I make thee become a great nation, and bless thee, and make thy name great; and be thou a blessing.

Genesis 18:24
peradventure there are fifty righteous in the midst of the city; dost Thou also consume, and not bear with the place for the sake of the fifty -- the righteous who [are] in its midst?

Genesis 19:8
lo, I pray you, I have two daughters, who have not known any one; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do to them as [is] good in your eyes; only to these men do not anything, for therefore have they come in within the shadow of my roof.'

Genesis 19:9
And they say, `Come nigh hither;' they say also, `This one hath come in to sojourn, and he certainly judgeth! now, we do evil to thee more than [to] them;' and they press against the man, against Lot greatly, and come nigh to break the door.

Genesis 19:15
And when the dawn hath ascended, then the messengers press upon Lot, saying, `Rise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters who are found present, lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.'

Genesis 19:16
And he lingereth, and the men lay hold on his hand, and on the hand of his wife, and on the hand of his two daughters, through the mercy of Jehovah unto him, and they bring him out, and cause him to rest without the city.

Psalms 34:15
The eyes of Jehovah [are] unto the righteous, And His ears unto their cry.

Psalms 102:17
He turned unto the prayer of the destitute, And He hath not despised their prayer.

Psalms 145:19
The desire of those fearing Him He doth, And their cry He heareth, and saveth them.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And thine eye shall not pity,.... The false witness when convicted; this is directed to the judges, who should not spare such an one through favour or affection, but pronounce a righteous sentence on him, and see it executed, in proportion to the crime, and that according to the law of retaliation:

but life shall go for life; in such a case where the life of a person must have gone, if the falsehood of the testimony had not been discovered, the false witness must suffer death; in other cases, where a member would have been lost, or the price of it paid for, the same penalty was to be inflicted:

eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot; that is, the price of an eye an eye, &c. see Exodus 21:23.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See the marginal references.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Deuteronomy 19:21. Life - for life, eye for eye, c. — The operation of such a law as this must have been very salutary: if a man prized his own members, he would naturally avoid injuring those of others. It is a pity that this law were not still in force: it would certainly prevent many of those savage acts which now both disgrace and injure society. I speak this in reference to law generally, and the provision that should be made to prevent and punish ferocious and malevolent offences. A Christian may always act on the plan of forgiving injuries and where the public peace and safety may not be affected, he should do so; but if law did not make a provision for the safety of the community by enactment against the profligate, civil society would soon be destroyed.