Deuteronomy 17:6

“On the word of two witnesses or three witnesses the one who is to die shall be put to death; he shall not be put to death on the word of one witness.”

Deuteronomy 17:6 · direct translation from the Hebrew
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6

Allusion · Hebrews 10:28

Go to Hebrews 10:28

Hebrews uses the rule of Deuteronomy 17:6: a person dies on the testimony of “two or three witnesses.”

They share words that are rare in the original, without a quotation.

  • שְׁנַיִםshenayimH8147δυσὶνdysinG1417“two”
  • שְׁלֹשָׁהsheloshaH7969τρισὶνtrisinG5140“three”
  • עֵדִיםedimH5707μάρτυσινmartysinG3144“witness”
  • יוּמַתyumatH4191ἀποθνῄσκειapothnēiskeiG599“die”

Deuteronomy 17:6, word by word

On the wordפִּיpi

command

Literally "the mouth": what someone says or decrees.

Where else “pi” appears
of twoשְׁנַיִםshenayim

two

A pair, a quantity of two.

Where else “shenayim” appears
witnessesעֵדִיםedim

witness

Someone who vouches for what he saw; YHWH is one too.

Where else “edim” appears
threeשְׁלֹשָׁהshelosha

three

A quantity of three: three persons or things together.

Where else “shelosha” appears
the one who is to dieמֵּתmet

be put to death

To lose one's life as punishment.

Where else “met” appears
of oneאֶחָדechad

one

The number one; just one and no more.

Where else “echad” appears

Translation note

See Numbers 35:30, Deuteronomy 19:15, Matthew 18:16, and 2 Corinthians 13:1.

The context

5then you shall bring out that man or that woman who have done this evil thing to your gates, the man or the woman, and you shall stone them with stones so that they die.

6 · This verse (above)

7The hand of the witnesses shall be against him first to put him to death, and the hand of all the people afterward. So you shall remove the evil from among you.

Read all of Deuteronomy 17

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