Deuteronomy 19:12

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

then the elders of his city shall send and bring him there, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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Word by word

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גֹּאֵ֥ל

gâʼal

H1350

“redeeming”

Verb, Qal, Participle Active, Masculine, Singular, Construct

Appears 105× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 48:16

Full BDB Definition

Origin: a primitive root

TWOT: 300

to redeem, act as kinsman-redeemer, avenge, revenge, ransom, do the part of a kinsman - (Qal) - to act as kinsman, do the part of next of kin, act as kinsman-redeemer - by marrying brother's widow to beget a child for him, to redeem from slavery, to redeem land, to exact vengeance - to redeem (by payment) - to redeem (with God as subject) - individuals from death - Israel from Egyptian bondage - Israel from exile - (Niphal) - to redeem oneself - to be redeemed

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

12: words
11: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Grammatical profile

5 verbs
3 nouns
1 adjective
1 adverb
2 particles

Verb forms

וְשָֽׁלְחוּ֙ Qal · Sequential Perfect
וְלָקְח֥וּ Qal · Sequential Perfect
וְנָתְנ֣וּ Qal · Sequential Perfect
גֹּאֵ֥ל Qal · Participle Active
וָמֵֽת Qal · Sequential Perfect

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 27 words from the Hebrew and 29 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 12 Hebrew tokens and 22 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Deuteronomy 19:12 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

1 Kings 2:5–6 Moreover you know also what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, even what he did to the two captains of the hosts of Israel, to Abner the son of Ner, and to Amasa the son of Jether, whom he killed, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war on his sash that was about his loins, and in his shoes that were on his feet.
1 Kings 2:28–34 The news came to Joab; for Joab had turned after Adonijah, though he didn't turn after Absalom. Joab fled to the Tent of Yahweh, and caught hold on the horns of the altar.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Deuteronomy 19:12 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וְשָֽׁלְחוּ֙ זִקְנֵ֣י עִיר֔וֹ וְלָקְח֥וּ אֹת֖וֹ מִשָּׁ֑ם וְנָתְנ֣וּ אֹת֗וֹ בְּיַ֛ד גֹּאֵ֥ל הַדָּ֖ם וָמֵֽת

then the elders of his city shall send and bring him there, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Deuteronomy 19:12 Septuagint · lemma form

καί ἀποστέλλω ὁ γερουσία ὁ πόλις αὐτός καί λαμβάνω αὐτός ἐκεῖθεν καί παραδίδωμι αὐτός εἰς χείρ ὁ ἀγχιστεύω ὁ αἷμα καί ἀποθνήσκω

then shall the elders of his city send, and take him thence, and they shall deliver him into the hands of the avengers of blood, and he shall die.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וִישַׁלְחוּן סָבֵי קַרְתֵּהּ וְיִדְבְּרוּן יָתֵהּ מִתַּמָן וְיִתְּנוּן יָתֵהּ בְּיַד גָאֵל דְמָא וִימוּת

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וִישַׁדְרוּן חַכִּימִין קַרְתֵּיהּ וִידַבְּרוּן יָתֵיהּ מִתַּמָּן וְיִמְסְרוּן יָתֵיהּ בְּיַד תְּבַע אַדְמָא וְיִתְקְטֵל

the sages of his cities shall send and take him thence, and give him up into the hand of the pursuer for blood, and he shall be put to death.

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Deuteronomy 19:12 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Deu 19:12 Then the elders of his city shall send and fetch him thence, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die.

Ver. 12. And fetch him thence.] From the altar to the halter, from the palace to the gallows. {Pro 28:17}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joseph Benson's Commentary

Deu 19:12. The elders of his city — The city of the manslayer. The sense is, that upon any information or suspicion of murder, laid against any one that had taken refuge in any of these cities, the magistrates of the town or district where the fact was committed, should send for the person out of the refuge-city, bring him to a fair trial, and, upon clear evidence of wilful murder, condemn him to death, and cause execution to be done without fear, partiality, or affection; as they valued the divine blessing, and desired to be free of the guilt of innocent blood, which otherwise would be required at their hands.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Geneva Bible (1599)

Geneva Bible translators

The Magistrates.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

12. the elders of his city, etc.] It is not said who are to judge if wilful murder has been committed (for this see Jos_20:4-9), but the elders of the murderer’s town are responsible for his delivery into the hands of the avenger; it is assumed that they are satisfied as to his guilt. The control of the old custom—in which the punishment of a murderer was a family duty—is in the hands of the public authorities. This is not without analogies among the Semitic nomads (Musil, Ethn. Ber. 361 ff.). Elders also appear in Deu_21:2 ff, Deu_21:6; Deu_21:19 f., Deu_22:15-18, Deu_25:7-9, with judicial or executive functions. On their relations to the judges see on Deu_16:18. Doughty (II. 368) mentions a case of murder at Aneyza, where the father was commanded by the Emir and elders to slay the murderess and declined, whereupon she was executed by the public authorities.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

Thine eye shall not pity him,.... This is not said to the avenger of blood, who is not to be supposed to have any pity or compassion on such a person, but to the elders, judges, and civil magistrates of the city to which he belonged, who took cognizance of his case; these were to show him no favour on account of his being a citizen, a neighbour, a relation or friend, or a rich man, or on any account whatever; but without favour or affection were to judge him and put him to death as a murderer; see Num 35:21,

but thou shall put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel; by which they would be defiled, and be liable to punishment for it; see Num 35:33, the Targum of Jonathan is,"shall put away those that shed innocent blood out of Israel;''put them away by death:

that it may go well with thee; with the whole land and its inhabitants, and with the city particularly, and the magistrates, and men of it, to which the murderer condemned to death belonged, being continued in the enjoyment of all temporal blessings and mercies.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

His city. Strict enquiry was made into the circumstances attending the manslaughter, Numbers xxxv. 12. If the refugee was proved guilty, he was delivered up to the next relation of the deceased to be put to death. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

The elders of his city; either of the slain person, who were most likely to prosecute the murderer; or of the murderer, because God would oblige even his own fellow citizens to prosecute him to death, that it might appear how hateful murder and the murderer is to God, and ought to be to all men.

Fetch him thence; demand him of the elders of the city of refuge, who upon the hearing of the cause and the evidence of the murder were obliged to deliver the offender to justice.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Deuteronomy, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 12 words (11 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is gâʼal (“to redeem”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “to redeem” (gâʼal) shape what this verse is saying?
1 Kings 2:5–6 shares this passage’s theme. How do the two illuminate each other?
The translations on this page render this verse differently — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment. What might account for the different wordings?
The verb «וְשָֽׁלְחוּ֙» is Qal Sequential Perfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Joseph Benson's Commentary read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

This verse counts 12 Hebrew ↔ 22 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 9 words in this verse.
11 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 12 words in this verse.