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።
Cities to Run to for Safety
1The Lord your God will destroy the nations whose land he is giving you. You will drive them out. And you will make your homes in their towns and their houses. 2When you do, set apart for yourselves three cities in the land. It’s the land the Lord your God is giving you to take as your own. 3Figure out the distances and then separate the land into three parts. Then anyone who kills another person can run to one of these cities for safety. They are in the land the Lord your God is giving you as your own.
4Here is the rule about a person who kills someone. That person can run to one of those cities for safety. The rule applies to anyone who kills a neighbor they didn’t hate and didn’t mean to kill. 5For example, suppose a man goes into a forest with his neighbor to cut wood. When he swings his ax to chop down a tree, the head of the ax flies off. And it hits his neighbor and kills him. Then that man can run to one of those cities and save his life. 6If he doesn’t go to one of those cities, the dead man’s nearest male relative might become very angry. He might chase the man. If the city is too far away, he might catch him and kill him. But the man running to the city isn’t worthy of death, because he didn’t hate his neighbor. 7That’s why I command you to set apart for yourselves three cities.
8The Lord your God will increase the size of your territory. He promised your people of long ago that he would do it. He will give you the whole land he promised them. 9But he’ll do it only if you are careful to obey all the laws I’m commanding you today. I command you to love the Lord your God. You must always live as he wants you to live. Suppose you are careful to obey, and the Lord your God gives you more land. Then you must set apart three more cities. 10Do it to protect those not guilty of murder. Then you won’t spill their blood in your land. It’s the land the Lord your God is giving you as your own.
11But suppose a man hates his neighbor. So he hides and waits for him. Then he attacks him and kills him. And he runs to one of those cities for safety. 12If he does, the elders of his own town must send for him. He must be brought back from the city. He must be handed over to the dead man’s nearest male relative. Then the relative will kill him. 13Don’t feel sorry for him. He has killed someone who hadn’t done anything wrong. Crimes like that must be punished in Israel. Then things will go well with you.
14Don’t move your neighbor’s boundary stone. It was set up by people who lived there before you. It marks the border of a field in the land you will receive as your own. The Lord your God is giving you that land. You will take it over.
Witnesses
15Suppose someone is charged with committing a crime of any kind. Then one witness won’t be enough to prove that person is guilty. Every matter must be proved by the words of two or three witnesses.
16Suppose a witness who tells lies goes to court and brings charges against someone. The witness says someone committed a crime. 17Then the two people in the case must stand in front of the Lord. They must stand in front of the priests and the judges who are in office at that time. 18The judges must check out the matter carefully. And suppose the witness is proved to be lying. Then he has said something false in court against another Israelite. 19So do to the lying witness what he tried to do to the other person. Get rid of that evil witness. 20The rest of the people will hear about it. And they will be afraid. They won’t allow such an evil thing to be done among them again. 21Don’t feel sorry for that evil person. A life must be taken for a life. An eye must be put out for an eye. A tooth must be knocked out for a tooth. A hand must be cut off for a hand and a foot for a foot.
