Deuteronomy 19:21
in Deuteronomy 19You must show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And thine eyes shall not pity; life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
KJV
And thine eye shall not pity; but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
⋯
This verse in Deuteronomy 19
Commentary
4 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
If a false witness testifies against someone
on Deuteronomy 19:16-21
The case goes to the central court of 17:8-13, and Albert Barnes reads the two men of verse 17 as the parties to the original suit. The liar suffers what “he intended to do to his brother”, so intent alone carries the penalty the lie aimed at. The chapter closes on “life for life, eye for eye”, which Exodus 21:23-25 also carries and Jesus takes up at Matthew 5:38.
This site's exposition
You must show no pity
The formula sets the court's measure for the false witness, and Matthew Henry reads it as a penalty matched to the charge he brought. Verse 13 used the same words, show no pity, of the murderer. Both cases guard innocent life.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And thine eye shall not pity,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Life - for life, eye for eye, etc. - The operation of such a law as this must have been very salutary: if a man prized his own members, he would naturally avoid injuring those of others. It is a pity that this law were not still in force: it would certainly prevent many of those savage acts which now both disgrace and injure society. I speak this in reference to law generally, and the provision that should be made to prevent and punish ferocious and malevolent offenses.
The words behind it
13 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְלֹ֥א | velo' | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תָח֖וֹס | tachos | it will look with pity | H2347 → | 24 times |
| עֵינֶ֑ךָ | ʾeinekha | eye your | H5869 → | 887 times |
| נֶ֣פֶשׁ | nefesh | life | H5315 → | 754 times |
| בְּנֶ֗פֶשׁ | benefesh | for life | H5315 → | 754 times |
| עַ֤יִן | ʾayin | eye | H5869 → | 887 times |
| בְּעַ֙יִן֙ | beayin | for eye | H5869 → | 887 times |
| שֵׁ֣ן | shen | tooth | H8127 → | 55 times |
| בְּשֵׁ֔ן | beshen | for tooth | H8127 → | 55 times |
| יָ֥ד | yad | hand | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| בְּיָ֖ד | beyad | for hand | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| רֶ֥גֶל | regel | foot | H7272 → | 247 times |
| בְּרָֽגֶל׃ ס | beragel | for foot | H7272 → | 247 times |
וְלֹ֥אand not
velo'H3808 →5168 times
תָח֖וֹסit will look with pity
tachosH2347 →24 times
עֵינֶ֑ךָeye your
ʾeinekhaH5869 →887 times
נֶ֣פֶשׁlife
nefeshH5315 →754 times
בְּנֶ֗פֶשׁfor life
benefeshH5315 →754 times
עַ֤יִןeye
ʾayinH5869 →887 times
בְּעַ֙יִן֙for eye
beayinH5869 →887 times
שֵׁ֣ןtooth
shenH8127 →55 times
בְּשֵׁ֔ןfor tooth
beshenH8127 →55 times
יָ֥דhand
yadH3027 →1618 times
בְּיָ֖דfor hand
beyadH3027 →1618 times
רֶ֥גֶלfoot
regelH7272 →247 times
בְּרָֽגֶל׃ סfor foot
beragelH7272 →247 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Deuteronomy 19:13You must show him no pity. You are to purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, that it may go well with you.
it leads to
- 1 Kings 2:31
And the king replied, “Do just as he says. Strike him down and bury him, and so remove from me and from the house of my father the innocent blood that Joab shed.
- Deuteronomy 7:16
You must destroy all the peoples the LORD your God will deliver to you. Do not look on them with pity. Do not worship their gods, for that will be a snare to you.
- Deuteronomy 21:9
So you shall purge from among you the guilt of shedding innocent blood, since you have done what is right in the eyes of the LORD.
- Deuteronomy 7:2
and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you to defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.
- Numbers 35:33–34
Do not pollute the land where you live, for bloodshed pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land on which the blood is shed, except by the blood of the…
- 1 Kings 2:31
Where this verse is studied
About Deuteronomy
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.