Deuteronomy 19:12

The NET Bible®

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 When the Lord your God destroys the nations whose land he is about to give you and you dispossess them and settle in their cities and houses, ² you must set apart for yourselves three cities in the middle of your land that the Lord your God is giving you as a possession. ³ You shall build a roadway and divide into thirds the whole extent of your land that the Lord your God is providing as your inheritance; anyone who kills another person should flee to the closest of these cities. ⁴ Now this is the law pertaining to one who flees there in order to live, if he has accidentally killed another without hating him at the time of the accident. ⁵ Suppose he goes with someone else to the forest to cut wood and when he raises the ax to cut the tree, the ax head flies loose from the handle and strikes his fellow worker so hard that he dies. The person responsible may then flee to one of these cities to save himself. ⁶ Otherwise the blood avenger will chase after the killer in the heat of his anger, eventually overtake him, and kill him, though this is not a capital case since he did not hate him at the time of the accident. ⁷ Therefore, I am commanding you to set apart for yourselves three cities. ⁸ If the Lord your God enlarges your borders as he promised your ancestors and gives you all the land he pledged to them, ⁹ and then you are careful to observe all these commandments I am giving you today (namely, to love the Lord your God and to always walk in his ways), then you must add three more cities to these three. ¹⁰ 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.

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
The Lord said to Noah, "Come into the ark, you and all your household, for I consider you godly among this generation.

Genesis 19:14
Then Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law who were going to marry his daughters. He said, "Quick, get out of this place because the Lord is about to destroy the city!" But his sons-in-law thought he was ridiculing them.

Genesis 19:17
When they had brought them outside, they said, "Run for your lives! Don't look behind you or stop anywhere in the valley! Escape to the mountains or you will be destroyed!"

Genesis 19:22
Run there quickly, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there." (This incident explains why the town was called Zoar.)

Genesis 19:23
The sun had just risen over the land as Lot reached Zoar.

Numbers 16:26
And he said to the community, "Move away from the tents of these wicked men, and do not touch anything they have, lest you be destroyed because of all their sins."

Jeremiah 32:39
I will give them a single-minded purpose to live in a way that always shows respect for me. They will want to do that for their own good and the good of the children who descend from them.

2 Peter 2:7
and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man in anguish over the debauched lifestyle of lawless men,

2 Peter 2:9
—if so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from their trials, and to reserve the unrighteous for punishment at the day of judgment,

Revelation 18:4
Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, "Come out of her, my people, so you will not take part in her sins and so you will not receive her plagues,

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.