Deuteronomy 19:4

19:4 Now this is the law pertaining to one who flees there in order to live, ¹  if he has accidentally killed another ²  without hating him at the time of the accident. ³ 

Deuteronomy 19:10-11

19:10 You must not shed innocent blood ⁴  in your land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, for that would make you guilty. ⁵  19:11 However, suppose a person hates someone else ⁶  and stalks him, attacks him, kills him, ⁷  and then flees to one of these cities.

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¹ tn Heb “and this is the word pertaining to the one who kills who flees there and lives.”

² tn Heb “who strikes his neighbor without knowledge.”

³ tn Heb “yesterday and a third (day)” (likewise in v. 6). The point is that there was no animosity between the two parties at the time of the accident and therefore no motive for the killing. Cf. NAB “had previously borne no malice”; NRSV “had not been at enmity before.”

⁴ tn Heb “innocent blood must not be shed.” The Hebrew phrase דָּם נָקִי (dam naqiy) means the blood of a person to whom no culpability or responsibility adheres because what he did was without malice aforethought (HALOT 224 s.v דָּם 4.b).

⁵ tn Heb “and blood will be upon you” (cf. KJV, ASV); NRSV “thereby bringing bloodguilt upon you.”

⁶ tn Heb “his neighbor.”

⁷ tn Heb “rises against him and strikes him fatally.”