መማጸኛ ከተሞች
19፥1-14 ተጓ ምብ – ዘኍ 35፥6-34፤ ዘዳ 4፥41-43፤ ኢያ 20፥1-9
1አምላክህ እግዚአብሔር (ኤሎሂም ያህዌ) ምድራቸውን ለአንተ የሚሰጥባቸውን አሕዛብ በሚደመስሳቸው ጊዜና አንተም እነርሱን አስለቅቀህ በከተሞቻቸውና በቤቶቻቸው በምትቀመጥበት ጊዜ፣ 2አምላክህ እግዚአብሔር (ኤሎሂም ያህዌ) ርስት አድርጎ በሚሰጥህ ምድር አማካይ ስፍራ፣ ሦስት ከተሞችን ለራስህ ለይ። 3ሰው የገደለ ሁሉ እንዲሸሽባቸው አምላክህ እግዚአብሔር (ኤሎሂም ያህዌ) ርስት አድርጎ በሚሰጥህ ምድር መንገዶችን ሠርተህ፣ በሦስት ክፈላቸው።
4በተንኰል ሳይሆን ድንገት ሳያስበው ባልንጀራውን ገድሎ ሕይወቱን ለማትረፍ ለሚሸሽ ሰው መመሪያው የሚከተለው ነው። 5እነሆ፤ አንድ ሰው ከባልንጀራው ጋር ዕንጨት ለመቍረጥ ወደ ጫካ ቢሄድ፣ ዛፉን ለመጣል መጥረቢያውን በሚሰነዝርበት ጊዜ ብረቱ ከእጀታው ወልቆ ባልንጀራውን በመምታት ቢገድለው፣ ያ ሰው ከእነዚህ ከተሞች ወደ አንዱ በመሸሽ ሕይወቱን ማትረፍ ይችላል። 6አለዚያ በተንኰል ሳይሆን ድንገት ሳያስበው ባልንጀራውን ቢገድል፣ መንገዱ ረዥም ከሆነ ደም ተበቃዩ በንዴት ተከታትሎ ይደርስበትና መገደል የማይገባውን ሰው ሊገድል ይችላል። 7ሦስት ከተሞችን ለራስህ እንድትለይ ያዘዝሁህ በዚሁ ምክንያት ነው።
8ለአባቶችህ በመሐላ በገባላቸው ቃል መሠረት፣ አምላክህ እግዚአብሔር (ኤሎሂም ያህዌ) ወሰንህን ሲያሰፋውና ለእነርሱ በሰጣቸው መሠረት ምድሪቷን ሁሉ ሲሰጥህ፣ 9አምላክህን እግዚአብሔርን (ኤሎሂም ያህዌ) እንድትወድድና ምንጊዜም በመንገዱ እንድትሄድ ዛሬ የማዝዝህን እነዚህን ሕግጋት ሁሉ በጥንቃቄ የምትጠብቅ ከሆነ፣ በእነዚህ ላይ ሌሎች ሦስት ከተሞችን ትጨምራለህ። 10አምላክህ እግዚአብሔር (ኤሎሂም ያህዌ) ርስት አድርጎ በሚሰጥህ ምድር የንጹሕ ሰው ደም እንዳይፈስስና በሚፈስሰውም ደም በደለኛ እንዳትሆን ይህን አድርግ።
11ይሁን እንጂ አንድ ሰው ባልንጀራውን ቢጠላው፣ አድፍጦ ጥቃት ቢያደርስበት፣ ቢገድለውና ከእነዚህ ከተሞች ወደ አንዲቱ ቢሸሽ፣ 12የሚኖርባት ከተማ ሽማግሌዎች ሰው ልከው ከከተማው ያስመጡት፤ እንዲገድለውም ለደም ተበቃዩ አሳልፈው ይስጡት።
13አትራራለት፤ ነገር ግን መልካም እንዲሆንልህ የንጹሑን ደም በደል ከእስራኤል አስወግድ።
14አምላክህ እግዚአብሔር (ኤሎሂም ያህዌ) እንድትወርሳት በሚሰጥህ ምድር ውስጥ ለአንተ በሚተላለፍልህ ርስት ላይ የቀድሞ ሰዎች ያስቀመጡትን የባልንጀራህን የድንበር ምልክት አታንሣ።
ምስክሮች
15በማንኛውም ወንጀል ወይም ሕግ በመተላለፍ ሰውን ጥፋተኛ ለማድረግ፣ አንድ ምስክር አይበቃም፤ ጕዳዩ በሁለት ወይም በሦስት ሰዎች ምስክርነት መረጋገጥ አለበት።
16ተንኰለኛ የሆነ ምስክር አንድን ሰው በሐሰት ቢከስስ፣ 17ክርክሩ የሚመለከታቸው ሁለቱ ሰዎች በእግዚአብሔር (ያህዌ) ፊት፣ በዚያ ወቅት በሚያገለግሉት ካህናትና ፈራጆች ፊት ይቁሙ። 18ፈራጆችም ጕዳዩን በጥልቅ ይመርምሩት፤ ያም ምስክር በወንድሙ ላይ በሐሰት የመሰከረ መሆኑ ከተረጋገጠ፣ 19በወንድሙ ላይ ለማድረግ ያሰበውን በእርሱ ላይ አድርጉበት፤ ክፉውን ከመካከልህ አስወግድ። 20የቀሩትም ሰዎች ይህን ሰምተው ይፈራሉ፤ እንዲህ ያለው ክፉ ነገርም ለወደፊቱ በመካከልህ ከቶ አይደገምም። 21ርኅራኄ አታድርግ፤ ሕይወት በሕይወት፣ ዐይን በዐይን፣ ጥርስ በጥርስ፣ እጅ በእጅ፣ እግር በእግር ይመለስ።
1When the LORD thy God hath cut off the nations, whose land the LORD thy God giveth thee, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their cities, and in their houses;19.1 succeedest: Heb. inheritest, or, possessest 2Thou shalt separate three cities for thee in the midst of thy land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it. 3Thou shalt prepare thee a way, and divide the coasts of thy land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee to inherit, into three parts, that every slayer may flee thither.
4¶ And this is the case of the slayer, which shall flee thither, that he may live: Whoso killeth his neighbour ignorantly, whom he hated not in time past;19.4 in…: Heb. from yesterday the third day 5As when a man goeth into the wood with his neighbour to hew wood, and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the head slippeth from the helve, and lighteth upon his neighbour, that he die; he shall flee unto one of those cities, and live:19.5 head: Heb. iron19.5 helve: Heb. wood19.5 lighteth…: Heb. findeth 6Lest 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.19.6 slay…: Heb. smite him in life19.6 in…: Heb. from yesterday the third day 7Wherefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt separate three cities for thee. 8And if the LORD thy God enlarge thy coast, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers, and give thee all the land which he promised to give unto thy fathers; 9If thou shalt keep all these commandments to do them, which I command thee this day, to love the LORD thy God, and to walk ever in his ways; then shalt thou add three cities more for thee, beside these three: 10That innocent blood be not shed in thy land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and so blood be upon thee.
11¶ But if any man hate his neighbour, and lie in wait for him, and rise up against him, and smite him mortally that he die, and fleeth into one of these cities:19.11 mortally: Heb. in life 12Then the elders of his city shall send and fetch him thence, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die. 13Thine eye shall not pity him, but thou shalt put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with thee.
14¶ Thou shalt not remove thy neighbour’s landmark, which they of old time have set in thine inheritance, which thou shalt inherit in the land that the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it.
15¶ One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.
16¶ If a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong;19.16 that…: or, falling away 17Then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges, which shall be in those days; 18And the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother; 19Then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to have done unto his brother: so shalt thou put the evil away from among you. 20And those which remain shall hear, and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you. 21And thine eye shall not pity; but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
