Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall purge the innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with you.
Parallel translations
- KJV 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.
- BSB 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.
- NKJV Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with you.
- NASB You shall not pity him, but you shall eliminate the guilt for the bloodshed of the innocent from Israel, so that it may go well for you.
- NLT Do not feel sorry for that murderer! Purge from Israel the guilt of murdering innocent people; then all will go well with you.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Israel must show no pity to the murderer but purge innocent blood, so it goes well with them. Removing such guilt brings blessing to the community.
Overview
The judges were not to let misplaced compassion shield a murderer, for unavenged blood defiled the land. Purging the guilt of innocent blood was essential to Israel's well-being before God. This reflects that genuine justice, not sentimentality, honors the value of life and secures God's blessing.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- 1 Kgs 2:31The king said to him, “Do as he has said, and fall on him, and bury him; that you may take away the blood, which Joab shed without cause, from me and from my father’s house.
- Deut 7:2and when Yahweh your God delivers them up before you, and you strike them; then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them, nor show mercy to them;
- Deut 7:16You shall consume all the peoples whom Yahweh your God shall deliver to you. Your eye shall not pity them: neither shall you serve their gods; for that would be a snare to you.
- Deut 21:9So you shall put away the innocent blood from among you, when you shall do that which is right in Yahweh’s eyes.
- Num 35:33–34“‘So you shall not pollute the land in which you are; for blood pollutes the land. No atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, but by the blood of him who shed it.
- 2 Sam 21:1There was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David sought the face of Yahweh. Yahweh said, “It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.”
- Lev 24:17“‘He who strikes any man mortally shall surely be put to death.
- Deut 25:12then you shall cut off her hand. Your eye shall have no pity.
- Ezek 16:5No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you, to have compassion on you; but you were cast out in the open field, because you were abhorred in the day that you were born.
- Lev 24:21He who kills an animal shall make it good; and he who kills a man shall be put to death.
- Gen 9:6Whoever sheds man’s blood, his blood will be shed by man, for God made man in his own image.
- 2 Sam 21:14They buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the country of Benjamin in Zela, in the tomb of Kish his father: and they performed all that the king commanded. After that, God answered prayer for the land.
- Deut 13:8you shall not consent to him, nor listen to him; neither shall your eye pity him, neither shall you spare, neither shall you conceal him;
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Moses promised a Prophet like himself to whom Israel must listen (18:15); Jesus is that Prophet, the one who keeps the covenant we broke and becomes the curse for us by hanging on a tree (Gal 3:13).
How Deuteronomy 19:13 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.