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 

The neighbor women named him, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi.” They named him Obed. ¹  Now he became the father of Jesse – David’s father!

So, this is what the Lord says: ‘I will assuredly ¹  make these people stumble to their doom. ²  Parents and children will stumble and fall to their destruction. ³  Friends and neighbors will die.’

If any household is too small ¹  for a lamb, ²  the man ³  and his next-door neighbor ⁴  are to take ⁵  a lamb according to the number of people – you will make your count for the lamb according to how much each one can eat. ⁶ 

and he said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Each man fasten ¹  his sword on his side, and go back and forth ²  from entrance to entrance throughout the camp, and each one kill his brother, his friend, and his neighbor.’” ³ 

you must bring the two of them to the gate of that city and stone them to death, the young woman because she did not cry out though in the city and the man because he violated ¹  his neighbor’s fiancée; ²  in this way you will purge ³  evil from among you.

For the commandments, ¹  “Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not covet,” ²  (and if there is any other commandment) are summed up in this, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” ³ 

But if a man willfully attacks his neighbor to kill him cunningly, ¹  you will take him even from my altar that he may die.

You must change ¹  the way you have been living and do what is right. You must treat one another fairly. ² 

“‘People from other nations will pass by this city. They will ask one another, “Why has the Lord done such a thing to this great city?”

Let each one examine ¹  his own work. Then he can take pride ²  in himself and not compare himself with ³  someone else.

When they have a dispute, ¹  it comes to me and I decide ²  between a man and his neighbor, and I make known the decrees of God and his laws.” ³ 

Anyone who accidentally killed someone ¹  without hating him at the time of the accident ²  could flee to one of those cities and be safe.

When you see ¹  your neighbor’s ²  ox or sheep going astray, do not ignore it; ³  you must return it without fail ⁴  to your neighbor.

When you see ¹  your neighbor’s donkey or ox fallen along the road, do not ignore it; ²  instead, you must be sure ³  to help him get the animal on its feet again. ⁴ 

Then I considered ¹  all the skillful work ²  that is done: Surely it is nothing more than ³  competition ⁴  between one person and another. ⁵  This also is profitless – like ⁶  chasing the wind.

“‘Sure to be judged ¹  is the king who builds his palace using injustice and treats people unfairly while adding its upper rooms. ²  He makes his countrymen work for him for nothing. He does not pay them for their labor.

Recently, however, you yourselves ¹  showed a change of heart and did what is pleasing to me. You granted your fellow countrymen their freedom and you made a covenant to that effect in my presence in the house that I have claimed for my own. ² 

On that day there will be great confusion from the Lord among them; they will seize each other and attack one another violently.

You cause my friends and neighbors to keep their distance; ¹  those who know me leave me alone in the darkness. ²