7. This is why I command you to choose these three cities.
8-9. Carefully obey all these laws I’m giving you today. Love the Lord your God. Always do what he wants you to do. Then the Lord your God will enlarge your land as he promised your ancestors. He will give you the whole land he promised to them. After that, choose three more cities of safety.
10. This is so that innocent people will not be killed in your land. The Lord your God is giving it to you to own. By doing this you will not be guilty of murder.
11. But a person might hate his neighbor. And he might hide and wait for him. He might attack and kill him and then run to one of these cities for safety.
12. The elders of his own city should send for him. They should bring him back from the city of safety. And they should hand him over to the relative who has the duty of punishing the murderer.
13. Give him no mercy. You must remove from Israel the guilt of murdering innocent people. Then things will go well for you.
14. Do not move the stone that marks the border of your neighbor’s land. People long ago set them in place. They mark what you inherit in the land the Lord your God is giving you to own.
15. One witness is not enough to accuse a man of a crime or sin. A case must be proved by two or three witnesses.
16. A witness might lie and accuse a person of a crime.
17. The two people who are arguing must stand before the Lord. They must stand before the priests and judges who are on duty.