Deuteronomy 19:2-21

21you shall set aside three cities for yourself in the midst of your land, which the Lord your God gives you to 2possess. 3You shall prepare the 3roads for yourself, and divide into three parts the territory of your land which the Lord your God will give you as a possession, 4so that any manslayer may flee there.

4“5Now this is the case of the manslayer who may flee there and live: when he 6kills his friend 7unintentionally, 8not hating him previously-- 5as when a man goes into the forest with his friend to cut wood, and his hand 9swings the axe to cut down the tree, and the iron head slips off the 10handle and 11strikes his friend so that he dies--he may flee to one of these cities and live; 6otherwise the avenger of blood might pursue the manslayer 12in the heat of his anger, and overtake him, because the way is long, and 13take his life, though he was not deserving of death, since he had not hated him previously. 7Therefore, I command you, saying, ‘You shall set aside three cities for yourself.’

8“If the Lord your God 14enlarges your territory, just as He has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land which He 15promised to give your fathers-- 9if you 16carefully observe all this commandment which I command you today, 17to love the Lord your God, and to walk in His ways always--18then you shall add three more cities for yourself, besides these three. 10So innocent blood will not be shed in the midst of your land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance, and 19bloodguiltiness be on you.

11“But 20if there is a man who hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and rises up against him and strikes 21him so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities, 12then 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. 132223You shall not pity him, but 24you shall purge the blood of the innocent from Israel, that it may go well with you.

14“25You shall not move your neighbor’s boundary mark, which the ancestors have set, in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land that the Lord your God gives you to 26possess.

15“27A single witness shall not rise up against a man on account of any iniquity or any sin 28which he has committed; on the 29evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed. 1630If a malicious witness rises up against a man to 31accuse him of 32wrongdoing, 17then both the men who have the dispute shall stand 33before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who will be in office in those days. 18The judges 34shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is a false witness and he has 35accused his brother falsely, 19then 36you shall do to him just as he had intended to do to his brother. Thus you shall purge the evil from among you. 2037The rest will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such an evil thing among you. 21Thus 3839you shall not show pity: 40life for life, 41eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.