Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 19:13
You must show him no pity. You are to purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, that it may go well with you.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses addresses the assembled Israelites on the plains of Moab, concluding the legal framework for cities of refuge and capital punishment. He establishes the procedural requirement for elders to deliver a convicted murderer to the avenger of blood.
The words — The phrase תָח֥וֹס עֵֽינְךָ֖ עָלָ֑י/ו (ta.Chos 'ei.ne./Kha 'a.La/v) literally renders "do not look with pity on him," while וּ/בִֽעַרְתָּ֧ דַֽם\־ הַ/נָּקִ֛י (u./vi.'ar.Ta dam- ha./na.Ki) commands the removal of innocent blood.
The thread — The command to purge innocent blood appears in 1 Kings 2:31, while the prohibition against looking on others with pity recurs in Deuteronomy 7:16 regarding the conquest of Canaanite nations.
Why it lands — The text demands the execution of a proven murderer without emotional hesitation to remove the guilt of innocent blood from the community. This legal requirement ensures the nation's civic and ritual purity so that God's blessing may remain upon them.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Thine eye shall not pity him, but thou shalt put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with thee.
Cross-references
- 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 7:2 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.
- 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.
- Numbers 35:33 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 one who shed it.
- 2 Samuel 21:1 During the reign of David there was a famine for three successive years, and David sought the face of the LORD. And the LORD said, “It is because of the blood shed by Saul and his family, because he killed the Gibeonites.”
- Genesis 9:6 Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man his blood will be shed; for in His own image God has made mankind.
- Leviticus 24:17 And if a man takes the life of anyone else, he must surely be put to death.
- Leviticus 24:21 Whoever kills an animal must make restitution, but whoever kills a man must be put to death.
- Deuteronomy 13:8 you must not yield to him or listen to him. Show him no pity, and do not spare him or shield him.