The Hyperlinked Bible
Intertextuality Pair
Allusion
Later text
The judges shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is proven to be a liar who has falsely accused his brother, you must do to him as he intended to do to his brother. So you must purge the evil from among you. Then the rest of the people will hear and be afraid, and they will never again do anything so evil among you. You must show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot.
Earlier text
Exodus 20:16BSB
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Exodus 20:16 prohibits bearing false witness (עֵד שָׁקֶר, ed shaqer) against one's neighbor, and Deuteronomy 19:18-21 specifies the judicial penalty for violation: "you shall do to the false witness as he intended to do to his brother." The Deuteronomic legislation develops the Decalogue prohibition into an enforceable legal procedure—judges must investigate thoroughly (דָּרַשׁ, darash), and the punishment for perjury follows the lex talionis principle: "life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth." This progression from Sinai prohibition to judicial implementation shows how the Decalogue's moral commands were translated into concrete legal statutes that governed Israel's courtroom practice.