Verses 11-13 take up the case of murder.

Hates his neighbor: again neighbor stands here for “someone,” “another person,” or “a fellow-Israelite.” In certain languages hates his neighbor will be expressed as “considers someone his enemy” (see also Good News Translation).

Lies in wait … attacks … wounds him mortally so that he dies: this is a graphic description of a deliberate, premeditated, wilful act of murder.

Flees into one of these cities: see verse 5.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

The elders of his city: see 5.23. These are the town leaders, the authorities of the community where the killer lives.

Send and fetch him … and hand him over: again there are various stages in the process. The word send suggests that the elders commission some men to go and find and bring back the killer. In a more general sense send and fetch him can mean “shall have him brought back.”

The avenger of blood: see verse 6.

So that he may die: so that he may be put to death, be executed.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Your eye shall not pity him: this is a vivid way of expressing lack of pity. Where there is a good idiomatic phrase for such a feeling, it should be used. See its use in 13.8.

Purge the guilt of innocent blood from Israel: a deliberate murder defiled the land, and it had to be cleansed. This could be achieved only by executing the murderer (see Num 35.33-34). For the verb purge see 13.5. Since the idea of “cleansing” may not be natural in this context, something like “get rid of,” “remove,” “take away” can be used. Some translations, like Good News Translation, Bible en français courant, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje, have “get rid of murderers,” but this does not really represent the meaning of the text, which is speaking not about murderers but about the land as such, which had been defiled or soiled by the spilling of innocent blood (see Gen 4.10-11). In languages where the idea of guilt of innocent blood will be difficult to translate, we may say something like “rid [or, remove from] the land of the blood of innocent people who have been murdered,” or “clear the name [or, face; or, reputation] of the people of Israel for the innocent people who….”

That it may be well with you: see 4.40.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Verses 16-19 deal with a case in which there is only one witness. This person is called a malicious witness, that is, a hostile witness, someone who violates the truth (the same phrase occurs in Exo 23.1; Psa 35.11).

Wrongdoing: the Hebrew word is used in 13.5 to mean apostasy (Revised Standard Version “rebellion against God”). It means the same thing in Isa 1.5; 31.6; Jer 28.16; 29.32 (its precise meaning in Isa 59.13 is in doubt). On the basis of the meaning of the word in these other passages, some commentators believe the charge here is not simply of wrongdoing in general but of apostasy in particular. The Septuagint here uses the word “ungodliness,” which means apostasy; and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible has “accuse him of rebellion” (which, in the context, is rebellion against God, not against the king). The whole paragraph indicates clearly that the crime is punishable by death, and the false witness himself shall be put to death (verse 19). It is recommended that the word or expression for “apostasy” be used here (using the same expression used in 13.5), namely “rebellion against God.” So we may translate:

• If a person tries to harm another by falsely accusing that person of rebelling against God, ….

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Both parties to the dispute: that is, both the accuser and the accused.

Appear before the LORD: at the central sanctuary.

Before the priests and the judges who are in office in those days: see 17.8-12, where the same procedure is followed.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

The judges shall inquire diligently: the judges are to investigate the matter thoroughly; they are to interrogate the two people closely.

Accused his brother falsely: again, brother here is simply the other Israelite, without any indication of family relationship. New Revised Standard Version “testified falsely against another,” or Good News Translation “and if the man has made a false accusation against his fellow Israelite.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Do to him as he meant to do to his brother: this is what is called the lex talionis, the law of equal retaliation. An alternative way of expressing this is “You must punish him in the same way you would have punished the accused person [or, the person he accused of doing wrong].”

Purge the evil from the midst of you: see verse 13; 17.7, 12.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

This verse is almost exactly the same as 17.13; see also 13.1.

Never again commit any such evil: here the standard Hebrew word for “crime” or “wrongdoing” is used. So we may say “and no one will ever again commit this crime.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .