Discovery BoxDeuteronomy 19:11-12 
Context19:11 However, suppose a person hates someone else 1 and stalks him, attacks him, kills him, 2 and then flees to one of these cities. 19:12 The elders of his own city must send for him and remove him from there to deliver him over to the blood avenger 3 to die.
Deuteronomy 33:12
ContextBlessing on Benjamin
33:12 Of Benjamin he said:
The beloved of the Lord will live safely by him;
he protects him all the time,
1 tn Heb “his neighbor.”
2 tn Heb “rises against him and strikes him fatally.”
3 tn The גֹאֵל הַדָּם (go’el haddam, “avenger of blood”) would ordinarily be a member of the victim’s family who, after due process of law, was invited to initiate the process of execution (cf. Num 35:16-28). See R. Hubbard, NIDOTTE 1:789-94.
4 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the
5 tn Heb “between his shoulders.” This suggests the scene in John 13:23 with Jesus and the Beloved Disciple.
