Deuteronomy 19:5

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:

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
goeth	יָבֹ֨א ya.Vo'	H935	to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
wood	בַיַּעַר֮ vai.ya.'Ar	H3293	a copse of bushes · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
neighbour	רֵעֵ֥הוּ re.'E.hu	H7453	an associate (more or less close) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
hew	לַחְטֹ֣ב lach.To	H2404	to chop or carve wood · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
wood	עֵצִים֒ 'e.Tzim	H6086	a tree (from its firmness) · noun, common masculine plural absolute
hand	יָד֤וֹ ya.Do	H3027	a hand (the open one (indicating power · noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Numbers 35:25 And the congregation shall deliver the slayer out of the hand of the revenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to the city o…
2 Kings 6:5-7 But as one was felling a beam, the axe head fell into the water: and he cried, and said, Alas, master! for it was borrowed.
Proverbs 27:12 A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished.
Isaiah 32:2 And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a gr…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 19:1-13

It was one of the precepts given to the sons of Noah that whoso sheddeth man's blood by man shall his blood be shed, that is, by the avenger of blood, Gen 9:6. Now here we have the law settled between blood and blood, between the blood of the murdered and the blood of the murderer, and effectual provision made, I. That the cities of refuge should be a protection to him that slew another casually, so that he should not die for that as a crime which was not his voluntary act, but only his unhappiness. The appointment of these cities of refuge we had before (Exo 21:13), and the law laid down concerning them at large, Num 35:10, etc. It is here repeated, and direction is given concerning three t…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Deuteronomy 19:3

Thou shalt prepare thee a way--The roads leading to them were to be kept in good condition and the brooks or rivers to be spanned by good bridges; the width of the roads was to be thirty-two cubits; and at all the crossroads signposts were to be erected with the words, Mekeleth, Mekeleth, "refuge, refuge," painted on them. divide the coasts of thy land . . . into three parts--the whole extent of the country from the south to the north. The three cities on each side of Jordan were opposite to each other, "as two rows of vines in a vineyard" (see on Jos 20:7).

John Gill on Deuteronomy 19:5

As when a man goeth into the wood with his neighbour to hew wood,.... A wood is a place common to men, and cutting down wood a business which any man might do; whereas a private place, where a man had no right to be, and doing what he had no business with, rendered a case suspicious, and such a man was liable to be taken up when any affair happened of the kind here spoken of; so the Jewish writers observe (t),"a wood is a public place for him that hurts and him that is hurt to enter there;''both had a right to go thither, the one as well as the other, he to whom the accident came, and he by whom it came; but they say, a court that belongs to a master of a house (a private court) is excepted,…

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The Church Fathers

The very words of Scripture indicate that even ignorance is a sin. This is why Job offers holocausts for his sons, lest perchance they may have sinned unwittingly in thought. And if a man is killed by the iron of an axe that flies off the handle when a man is hewing wood, the wood hewer is ordered to flee to a city of refuge and remain in that place until the death of the high priest. That is to say, [he remains there] until he is redeemed by the blood of the Savior, either in the house of baptism or by repentance, which supplies the efficacy of the grace of baptism through the ineffable mercy of the Savior. [The Savior] does not wish anybody to perish, nor does he find his delight in the death of sinners, but [he would] rather that they be converted from their way and live.
— Jerome, Against the Pelagians 1.33

For indeed we go with a friend into the wood as often as we betake ourselves to look into the delinquencies of subordinates. And we hew wood in simplicity of heart, when with pious intention we cut off the vices of delinquents. But the axe flies from the hand, when rebuke is drawn on to asperity more than need requires. And the iron leaps from the helve, when out of reproof issues speech too hard. And he smites and slays his friend, because overstrained contumely cuts him off from the spirit of love. For the mind of one who is reproved suddenly breaks out into hatred, if immoderate reproof charges it beyond its due. But he who smites wood incautiously and destroys his neighbour must needs fly to three cities, that in one of them he may live protected; since if, betaking himself to the laments of penitence, he is hidden under hope and charity in sacramental unity, he is not held guilty of the perpetrated homicide.
— Gregory the Dialogist, The Book of Pastoral Rule, Part 2, Chapter 10

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Axe — Used in the Authorized Version of Deut. 19:5; 20:19; 1 Kings 6:7, as the translation of a Hebrew word which means “chopping.” It was used for felling trees (Isa. 10:34) and hewing timber for…
City — The earliest mention of city-building is that of Enoch, which was built by Cain (Gen. 4:17). After the confusion of tongues, the descendants of Nimrod founded several cities (10:10-12). Next, we have…
Iron — Tubal-Cain is the first-mentioned worker in iron (Gen. 4:22). The Egyptians wrought it at Sinai before the Exodus. David prepared it in great abundance for the temple (1 Chr. 22:3: 29:7). The…
Avenger Of Blood · SCRIPTURES RELATING TO — SCRIPTURES RELATING TO
Ax · An implement — An implement
Homicide · Unjustifiable, described as: Killing by accident — Unjustifiable, described as: Killing by accident
Refuge · .From the avenger of bloo — .From the avenger of bloo
Trees · Were cut down: With axes — Were cut down: With axes

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Deuteronomy 19:5

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 19:1-13

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Deuteronomy 19:3

John Gill on Deuteronomy 19:5

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Deuteronomy 19:5

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 19:1-13

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Deuteronomy 19:3

John Gill on Deuteronomy 19:5

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Deuteronomy 19:1-13

Keil & Delitzsch on Deuteronomy 19:1-13

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Deuteronomy 19:4

Rashi on Deuteronomy 19:5