Two or Three Witnesses and Proportional Justice
Deuteronomy 19:15–21 is the movement “Two or Three Witnesses and Proportional Justice.” Read it inside Moses’ final covenant instruction to Israel on the eastern side of the Jordan as the people prepare for life in the land. The section opens with: “One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.” It closes with: “And thine eye shall not pity; but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.”
Within the book’s larger story, this section advances several important biblical threads. Truth and Witness: Two or three witnesses establish a matter; Jesus and the apostles later apply this rule in community discipline.