Deuteronomy 19:15

19:15 A single witness may not testify ¹  against another person for any trespass or sin that he commits. A matter may be legally established ²  only on the testimony of two or three witnesses.

Deuteronomy 19:18-19

19:18 The judges will thoroughly investigate the matter, and if the witness should prove to be false and to have given false testimony against the accused, ³  19:19 you must do to him what he had intended to do to the accused. In this way you will purge ⁴  evil from among you.

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¹ tn Heb “rise up” (likewise in v. 16).

² tn Heb “may stand.”

³ tn Heb “his brother” (also in the following verse).

⁴ tn Heb “you will burn out” (בִּעַרְתָּ, bi’arta). Like a cancer, unavenged sin would infect the whole community. It must, therefore, be excised by the purging out of its perpetrators who, presumably, remained unrepentant (cf. Deut 13:6; 17:7, 12; 21:21; 22:21-22, 24; 24:7).