Bible Strands
Numbers 35:30
If anyone kills a person, the murderer is to be put to death on the testimony of the witnesses. But no one is to be put to death based on the testimony of a lone witness.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses addresses the Israelite assembly in the plains of Moab, codifying a permanent legal ordinance before they enter Canaan. The directive establishes a procedural standard for capital cases that applies to all future generations.
The words — The text employs מַכֵּה־ נֶפֶשׁ (maḵeh-nepeš), literally "strikes down a person," and לְפִי עֵדִים (lepi 'edim), literally "according to the mouth of witnesses," to define the evidentiary threshold for execution.
The thread — This two-witness requirement appears in Deuteronomy 19:15, is referenced in Hebrews 10:28 regarding Mosaic legal standards, and informs the factual verification principle in Matthew 18:16.
Why it lands — The text explicitly mandates multiple corroborating accounts for execution and forbids capital punishment on a single witness's testimony. It requires the reader to accept that legal justice demands verified evidence rather than uncorroborated accusation.
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
Whoso killeth any person, the murderer shall be put to death by the mouth of witnesses: but one witness shall not testify against any person to cause him to die.
Cross-references
- Hebrews 10:28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
- Deuteronomy 19:15 A lone witness is not sufficient to establish any wrongdoing or sin against a man, regardless of what offense he may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.
- Matthew 18:16 But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’
- 2 Corinthians 13:1 This is the third time I am coming to you. “Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.”
- John 8:17 Even in your own Law it is written that the testimony of two men is valid.
- 1 Timothy 5:19 Do not entertain an accusation against an elder, except on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
- Numbers 35:16 If, however, anyone strikes a person with an iron object and kills him, he is a murderer; the murderer must surely be put to death.
- Deuteronomy 17:6 On the testimony of two or three witnesses a man shall be put to death, but he shall not be executed on the testimony of a lone witness.
- John 7:51 “Does our law convict a man without first hearing from him to determine what he has done?”
- Revelation 11:3 And I will empower my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”