7. This is why I am commanding you as follows: Designate three cities for your use.
8. Now if the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as he swore to your ancestors—and he will give you all the land he swore to give to them
9. as long as you keep all this commandment that I am giving you right now by doing it, by loving the Lord your God, and by always walking in his ways—you can add three more cities for your use along with the first three.
10. Innocent blood must not be spilled in the land the Lord your God is giving to you as an inheritance, or it will be bloodshed that will be required of you.
11. But if someone does hate a neighbor and ambushes him, rising up against him and attacking him so he dies, and then escapes to one of these cities,
12. elders from the killer’s hometown will send word, and the killer will be sent back from there. They will then hand him over to the blood avenger, and he will be executed.
13. Show no mercy to such killers. Remove innocent bloodshed from Israel so that things go well for you.
14. Now in the land the Lord your God is giving you, in your allotted property that you will receive there, you must not tamper with your neighbor’s property line, which has been previously established.
15. A solitary witness against someone in any crime, wrongdoing, or in any sort of misdeed that might be done is not sufficient. The decision must stand by two or three witnesses.
16. Now if a spiteful witness comes forward against someone, so as to testify against them falsely,
17. the two persons who have a legal suit must stand before the Lord, before the priests, and before the judges that are in office at that time.
18. The judges will look into the situation very carefully. If it turns out that the witness is a liar—that the witness has given false testimony against his fellow Israelite—
19. then you must do to him what he had planned to do to his fellow Israelite. Remove such evil from your community!
20. The rest of the people will hear about this and be afraid. They won’t do that sort of evil thing among you again.
21. Show no mercy on this point: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.