Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 19:5
If he goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut timber and swings his axe to chop down a tree, but the blade flies off the handle and strikes and kills his neighbor, he may flee to one of these cities to save his life.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses addresses the Israelites on the plains of Moab as they prepare to enter the Promised Land, detailing legal procedures for accidental homicides. The verse specifies the exact operational scenario of a man working alongside a companion in a forest when a fatal accident occurs.
The words — The Hebrew verb נִדּוֹחָה (ni.de.Chah) literally means "it will be impelled" or "driven," describing the axe blade's sudden, uncontrolled flight from the handle. This technical term distinguishes the fatal strike as a mechanical accident rather than an intentional act.
The thread — This scenario of accidental death during tool use appears in Numbers 35:25, which mandates the assembly's protection for the manslayer, and echoes the imagery in 2 Kings 6:5 where an axe head falls into water during timber work. The principle of unintended consequence also aligns with the warning in Proverbs 27:12 about the prudent recognizing and avoiding danger.
Why it lands — The text establishes that legal culpability requires intentional harm, granting the accidental killer refuge in a designated city to escape the avenger of blood. A reader must recognize that the law separates forensic fact from moral guilt, demanding objective assessment of intent before justice is applied.
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
As 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:
Cross-references
- Numbers 35:25 The assembly is to protect the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood. Then the assembly will return him to the city of refuge to which he fled, and he must live there until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil.
- 2 Kings 6:5 As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axe head fell into the water. “Oh, my master,” he cried out, “it was borrowed!”
- Proverbs 27:12 The prudent see danger and take cover, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty.
- Isaiah 32:2 Each will be like a shelter from the wind, a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in a dry land, like the shadow of a great rock in an arid land.