Deuteronomy 19:10

Green's Literal Translation

And innocent blood shall not be shed in the midst of your land, which Jehovah your God is giving to you as an inheritance, and there be blood on you.

Parallel Translations

English Standard Version
lest innocent blood be shed in your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, and so the guilt of bloodshed be upon you.

Update Bible Version
that innocent blood shall not be shed in the midst of your land, which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance, and so blood will be on you.

English Revised Version
that innocent blood be not shed in the midst of thy land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and so blood be upon thee.

New Century Version
so that innocent people will not be killed in your land, the land that the Lord your God is giving you as your own. By doing this you will not be guilty of allowing the death of innocent people.

New English Translation
You must not shed innocent blood in your land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, for that would make you guilty.

Webster's Bible Translation
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.

World English Bible
that innocent blood not be shed in the midst of your land, which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance, and so blood be on you.

Amplified Bible
so that innocent blood will not be shed [by blood avengers] in your land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and blood guilt will not be on you [for the death of an innocent man].

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
that gilteles blood be not sched out in the myddis of the lond which thi Lord God schal yyue to thee to haue in possessioun, lest thou be gilti of blood.

Young's Literal Translation
and innocent blood is not shed in the midst of thy land which Jehovah thy God is giving to thee -- an inheritance, and there hath been upon thee blood.

Berean Standard Bible
Thus innocent blood will not be shed in the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, so that you will not be guilty of bloodshed.

Contemporary English Version
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.

American Standard Version
that innocent blood be not shed in the midst of thy land, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and so blood be upon thee.

Bible in Basic English
So that in all your land, which the Lord your God is giving you for your heritage, no man may be wrongly put to death, for which you will be responsible.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
That innocent blood be not shed in thy lande, which the Lord thy God geueth thee to inherite, and so blood come vpon thee.

Complete Jewish Bible
so that innocent blood will not be shed in the land Adonai your God is giving you as an inheritance, and thus blood guilt be on you.

Darby Translation
that innocent blood be not shed in the midst of thy land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and blood come not upon thee.

Easy-to-Read Version
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.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
that innocent blood be not shed in the midst of thy land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and so blood be upon thee.

King James Version (1611)
That innocent blood be not shed in thy land which the Lord thy God giueth thee for an inheritance, and so blood be vpon thee.

New Life Bible
So the person without guilt will not be put to death in the land the Lord your God gives you as a gift. And you will not be guilty of blood.

New Revised Standard
so that the blood of an innocent person may not be shed in the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, thereby bringing bloodguilt upon you.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
that innocent blood may not be sired in the midst of thy land, which Yahweh thy God is giving unto thee as an inheritance, - and so shed-blood be upon thee.

Geneva Bible (1587)
That innocent bloude be not shed within thy land, which the Lord thy God giueth thee to inherite, lest bloud be vpon thee.

George Lamsa Translation
That innocent blood may not be shed in the land which the LORD your God gives you, and that the guilt of innocent blood not be upon you.

Good News Translation
Do this, so that innocent people will not die and so that you will not be guilty of putting them to death in the land that the Lord is giving you.

Douay-Rheims Bible
That innocent blood may not be shed in the midst of the land which the Lord thy God will give thee to possess, lest thou be guilty of blood.

Revised Standard Version
lest innocent blood be shed in your land which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance, and so the guilt of bloodshed be upon you.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
So innocent blood shall not be spilt in the land, which the Lord thy God gives thee to inherit, and there shall not be in thee one guilty of blood.

Christian Standard Bible®
In this way, innocent blood will not be shed, and you will not become guilty of bloodshed in the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

Hebrew Names Version
that innocent blood not be shed in the midst of your land, which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance, and so blood be on you.

King James Version
That innocent blood be not shed in thy land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and so blood be upon thee.

Lexham English Bible
Do this so that innocent blood will not be shed in the midst of your land that Yahweh your God is giving to you as an inheritance and thereby bloodguilt would be on you.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
that innocent bloude be not shed in thy londe (which the LORDE yi God geueth the to enheritaunce) and so bloude come vpon the.

New American Standard Bible
"So innocent blood will not be shed in the midst of your land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and guilt for bloodshed will not be on you.

New King James Version
lest innocent blood be shed in the midst of your land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and thus guilt of bloodshed be upon you.

New Living Translation
That way you will prevent the death of innocent people in the land the Lord your God is giving you as your special possession. You will not be held responsible for the death of innocent people.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"So innocent blood will not be shed in the midst of your land which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance, and bloodguiltiness be on you.

Legacy Standard Bible
So innocent blood will not be shed in the midst of your land which Yahweh your God gives you as an inheritance, and bloodguiltiness be on you.

Contextual Overview

¹ When Jehovah your God shall cut off the nations whose land Jehovah your God is giving to you, and when you dispossess them, and live in their cities, and in their houses, ² you shall separate three cities for you in the midst of your land, which Jehovah your God is giving you to possess it. ³ You shall prepare the way for yourself, and shall divide into three parts the border of your land which Jehovah your God shall cause you to inherit, so that every manslayer may flee there. ⁴ And this is the case of the manslayer who shall flee there, that he may live: whoever strikes his neighbor unawares, and has not hated him yesterday and the day before; ⁵ even he who goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and his hand brings a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the iron head slips from the wood and finds his neighbor so that he dies; he shall flee to one of these cities, and shall live; ⁶ that the avenger of blood not pursue the manslayer when his heart is hot, and shall overtake him because the way is long, and shall strike him so as to die, and he had no sentence of death, for he did not hate him yesterday or the day before. ⁷ On account of this I am commanding you, saying, You shall separate to yourself three cities. ⁸ And if Jehovah your God shall enlarge your border, as He has sworn to your fathers, and shall give to you all the land which He has spoken to give to your fathers, ⁹ if you will keep these commandments which I am commanding you today, to love Jehovah your God, and to walk in His ways forever, then you shall add to yourself another three cities to these three. ¹⁰ And innocent blood shall not be shed in the midst of your land, which Jehovah your God is giving to you as an inheritance, and there be blood on you.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Deuteronomy 19:13, Deuteronomy 21:8, 1 Kings 2:31, 2 Kings 21:16, 2 Kings 24:4, Psalms 94:21, Proverbs 6:17, Isaiah 59:7, Jeremiah 7:6, Jeremiah 7:7, Joel 3:19, Jonah 1:14, Matthew 27:4, Matthew 27:5

Reciprocal: Numbers 35:27 - he shall not be guilty of blood Deuteronomy 17:8 - between blood 2 Samuel 1:16 - Thy blood Jeremiah 22:3 - neither Jeremiah 26:15 - ye shall Matthew 27:25 - His

Gill's Notes on the Bible

That innocent blood be not shed,.... As it would be if such a slayer as before described was killed by the avenger of blood, before he could get to one of these cities of refuge, or supposing that they had not bean appointed, or a sufficient number of them:

which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance; to be enjoyed by them and their children after them, provided they did not defile it by their sins, but observed the commands of the Lord to obey them and

so blood be upon thee; the guilt of innocent blood crying for vengeance, as would be the case if such a man's blood was shed as before described; it seems as if the guilt would rather affect the whole land, for not having a proper provision of "asylums" for such persons, than the avenger of blood.

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.