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Deuteronomy 19:6

in Deuteronomy 19

Otherwise, the avenger of blood might pursue the manslayer in a rage, overtake him if the distance is great, and strike him dead though he did not deserve to die, since he did not intend any harm.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

lest the avenger of blood pursue the manslayer, while his heart is hot, and overtake him, because the way is long, and smite him mortally; whereas he was not worthy of death, inasmuch as he hated him not in time past.

KJV

Lest the avenger of the blood pursue the slayer, while his heart is hot, and overtake him, because the way is long, and slay him; whereas he was not worthy of death, inasmuch as he hated him not in time past.

This verse in Deuteronomy 19

Commentary

4 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

When the LORD your God has cut off the nations

on Deuteronomy 19:1-7

Numbers 35:9-15 had already set these cities apart. This chapter adds the roads, with the land divided in three so that distance never decides a case. Verse 6 gives the reason, that the avenger might overtake the manslayer “if the distance is great”.

This site's exposition

the avenger of blood might pursue

Jamieson, Fausset and Brown call the avenger's duty the customary law of that age. Numbers 35:19 gives the avenger of blood the right to strike the murderer dead. The danger here is his rage falling on the wrong man.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

Lest the avenger of blood pursue the slayer,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

(3.) It is provided that, if an avenger of blood should be so unreasonable as to demand satisfaction for blood shed by accident only, then the city of refuge should protect the slayer. Sins of ignorance indeed do expose us to the wrath of God, but there is relief provided, if by faith and repentance we make use of it.

The words behind it

26 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • פֶּן־lest

    pen-H6435 →133 times

  • יִרְדֹּף֩he should pursue

    yirdofH7291 →143 times

  • גֹּאֵ֨ל[the] avenger of

    goelH1350 →

  • הַדָּ֜ם<the> blood

    hadamH1818 →360 times

  • אַחֲרֵ֣יafter

    ʾachareiH310 →715 times

  • הָרֹצֵ֗חַthe killer

    harotzeachH7523 →47 times

  • כִּי־for

    ki-H3588 →4482 times

  • יֵחַם֮it will be hot

    yechamH2552 →

  • לְבָבוֹ֒heart his

    levavoH3824 →252 times

  • וְהִשִּׂיג֛וֹand he will overtake him

    vehisigoH5381 →50 times

  • כִּֽי־for

    ki-H3588 →4482 times

  • יִרְבֶּ֥הit will be great

    yirbehH7235 →227 times

  • הַדֶּ֖רֶךְthe journey

    haderekhH1870 →707 times

  • וְהִכָּ֣הוּand he will strike him

    vehikahuH5221 →499 times

  • נָ֑פֶשׁlife

    nafeshH5315 →754 times

  • וְלוֹ֙and [belonged] to <the> him

    velo

  • אֵ֣יןnot

    ʾeinH369 →789 times

  • מִשְׁפַּט־a sentence of

    mishpat-H4941 →422 times

  • מָ֔וֶתdeath

    mavetH4194 →156 times

  • כִּ֠יfor

    kiH3588 →4482 times

  • לֹ֣אnot

    lo'H3808 →5168 times

  • שֹׂנֵ֥א[was] hating

    sone'H8130 →146 times

  • ה֛וּאhe

    hu'H1931 →1879 times

  • ל֖וֹ<to> <the> him

    lo

  • מִתְּמ֥וֹלfrom yesterday

    mitemolH8543 →23 times

  • שִׁלְשֽׁוֹם׃[the] third day

    shilshomH8032 →24 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each 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

    2 Samuel 14:7

    Now the whole clan has risen up against your maidservant and said, ‘Hand over the one who struck down his brother, that we may put him to death for the life of the brother…

    it leads to

    • Numbers 35:19

      The avenger of blood is to put the murderer to death; when he finds him, he is to kill him.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

  • Through

    Deuteronomy 21:22

    If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is executed, and you hang his body on a tree,

    it leads to

    • Acts 26:31

      On their way out, they said to one another, “This man has done nothing worthy of death or imprisonment.”

    • John 19:31–38

      It was the day of Preparation, and the next day was a High Sabbath. In order that the bodies would not remain on the cross during the Sabbath, the Jews asked Pilate to have…

    • Matthew 26:66

      What do you think?” “He deserves to die,” they answered.

    • Luke 23:33

      When they came to the place called The Skull, they crucified Him there, along with the criminals, one on His right and the other on His left.

    • Acts 23:29

      I found that the accusation involved questions about their own law, but there was no charge worthy of death or imprisonment.

  • Through

    Joshua 20:5

    Now if the avenger of blood pursues him, they must not surrender the manslayer into his hand, because that man killed his neighbor accidentally without prior malice.

    it leads to

    • Numbers 35:12

      You are to have these cities as a refuge from the avenger, so that the manslayer will not die until he stands trial before the assembly.

  • Through

    Numbers 35:12

    You are to have these cities as a refuge from the avenger, so that the manslayer will not die until he stands trial before the assembly.

    it leads to

    • Joshua 20:3–6

      so that anyone who kills another unintentionally or accidentally may flee there. These will be your refuge from the avenger of blood.

Where this verse is studied

About Deuteronomy

Moses Viewing the Promised Land, Frederic Edwin Church, 1846. Public domain.
Moses Viewing the Promised Land, Frederic Edwin Church, 1846. Public domain.

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.