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 19:6

19:6 Otherwise the blood avenger will chase after the killer in the heat of his anger, eventually overtake him, ⁴  and kill him, ⁵  though this is not a capital case ⁶  since he did not hate him at the time of the accident.

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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 “and overtake him, for the road is long.”

⁵ tn Heb “smite with respect to life,” that is, fatally.

⁶ tn Heb “no judgment of death.”