The Fallible · Synthetic · Study Bible
The Testimony of Two or Three Witnesses
Deuteronomy 19:15–21 — The Testimony of Two or Three Witnesses. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.
15A lone witness is not sufficient to establish any wrongdoing or sin against a man, regardless of what offense he may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
’e·ḥāḏ ‘êḏ lō- yā·qūm lə·ḵāl ‘ā·wōn ū·lə·ḵāl- ḥaṭ·ṭāṯ bə·’îš bə·ḵāl ḥêṭ ’ă·šer ye·ḥĕ·ṭā dā·ḇār yā·qūm ‘al- pî šə·nê ’ōw ‘al- pî šə·lō·šāh- ‘ê·ḏîm ‘ê·ḏîm
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Not shall rise up a single witness against a man for any iniquity or for any sin, in any sin that he sins; upon the mouth of two witnesses or upon the mouth of three witnesses shall a matter be established.
Where the English smooths the original
Shall not rise up, or, not stand , or, not be established , accepted, owned as sufficient: it is the same word which in the end of the verse is rendered be established .Poole pins the single Hebrew verb (qûm) that opens and closes the verse — the basis for this verse's first divergence.
the witnesses may not, as Jarchi says, write their testimony in a letter, and send it to the sanhedrim, nor may an interpreter stand between the witnesses and the judgesGill, citing Rashi (Jarchi), shows the "mouth" (pî) is meant literally — living oral testimony, no letters, no interpreter.
The rule laid down in Deuteronomy 17:6 and Numbers 35:30 for capital crimes, is raised hereby into a law of general application
One witness shall not rise up ] Or, stand , that is, of course, as a valid effectual witness; the vb is the same as at the end of the v., shall a matter be established .
16If a false witness testifies against someone, accusing him of a crime,
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
kî- yā·qūm ḥā·mās ‘êḏ- la·‘ă·nō·wṯ bōw bə·’îš sā·rāh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
If rises up a witness of violence against a man, to testify against him apostasy—
Where the English smooths the original
Testify against him that which is wrong - Margin, more literally, "a falling away." The word is used Deuteronomy 13:5 to signify apostasy or revolt; here it is no doubt to be understood in the wider sense of any departure from the Law.Barnes traces sārāh from its narrower sense (apostasy, Deut 13:5) to its wide use here — the basis of this verse's second divergence.
unrighteous witness ] Heb. witness of violence . So E, Exodus 23:1 , and Psalm 35:11 , apparently one who forces his evidence, does violence to the truth or intends violence to his neighbour.Cambridge names the Hebrew exactly — "witness of violence" (ʻêḏ ḥāmās) — and links the idiom to Exodus 23:1.
the word ( סָרָה ), though usually expressing apostasy from Jehovah, has properly the general sense of a deflection from a prescribed course (from סוּר , to go off, to go aside), and so may describe any departure from what is constituted right.
17both parties to the dispute must stand in the presence of the LORD, before the priests and judges who are in office at that time.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
šə·nê- hā·’ă·nā·šîm ’ă·šer- lā·hem hā·rîḇ wə·‘ā·mə·ḏū lip̄·nê Yah·weh lip̄·nê hak·kō·hă·nîm wə·haš·šō·p̄ə·ṭîm ’ă·šer yih·yū hā·hêm bay·yā·mîm
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Then shall stand the two men who have between them the dispute before the face of YHWH, before the priests and the judges who shall be in those days.
Where the English smooths the original
The judges acted as God's representative; to lie to them was to lie to Him.Barnes states the theological hinge of the verse: the human court stands for God, so perjury before it is perjury before Him.
God's presence where his true ministers are assembled.Geneva's gloss on "before the LORD" — the divine presence located where His ministers convene.
the above writer remarks further, that it teaches that they ought to bear testimony standingGill preserves the rabbinic reading that the verb "stand" (ʻāmaḏ) prescribes the posture of testimony.
before Jehovah, viz., before the priests and judges who should be in those days - namely, at the place of the sanctuary, where Jehovah dwelt among His people
18The judges shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is proven to be a liar who has falsely accused his brother,
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
haš·šō·p̄ə·ṭîm wə·ḏā·rə·šū hê·ṭêḇ wə·hin·nêh ‘êḏ- še·qer hā·‘êḏ še·qer ‘ā·nāh ḇə·’ā·ḥîw
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And the judges shall inquire diligently; and behold, if the witness is a witness of falsehood, falsehood he has testified against his brother—
Where the English smooths the original
shall thoroughly examine the testimony given, and look carefully into itGill renders the doubled verb (dāraš + hêṭêḇ) as the court's duty of careful examination.
false, falsely ] Heb. sheḳer : so in Exodus 20:16 , but Deuteronomy 5:20 has shav, vain . brother ] here and next v .: the usual term in Sg. passages for fellow-Israelite .Cambridge fixes both pivots: šeqer (the ninth-commandment word) and "brother" as the covenant term for a fellow-Israelite.
The words from "behold" to "his brother" are parenthetical circumstantial clauses: "And, behold, is the witness a false witness, has he spoken a lie against his brother? Ye shall do," etc.
if convicted of perjury, it will be sufficient for his own condemnation, and his punishment shall be exactly the same as would have overtaken the object of his malignant prosecutionJFB states the symmetry the inquiry serves: once the lie is found out, the perjurer inherits precisely the doom he engineered for the accused.
19you must do to him as he intended to do to his brother. So you must purge the evil from among you.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wa·‘ă·śî·ṯem lōw ka·’ă·šer zā·mam la·‘ă·śō·wṯ lə·’ā·ḥîw ū·ḇi·‘ar·tā hā·rā‘ miq·qir·be·ḵā
Literal — word-for-word from the original
then you shall do to him as he plotted to do to his brother; so you shall burn away the evil from your midst.
Where the English smooths the original
Inflict the same fine or punishment on him he thought to have brought his brother under by his false testimony of himGill states the lex talionis of the verse: the schemer bears precisely what he plotted (zāmam) for his brother.
The verb here used ( זָמַם ) means generally to meditate, to have in mind, to purpose; but it frequently has the subaudition of meditating evilThe Pulpit Commentary names the verb zāmam and its evil overtone — the basis of this verse's first divergence.
shall ye do ] the only Pl. in the passage, confirmed by Sam. LXX; either a clerical error or an instance of the possibility of a writer slipping from one form of address into the other.Cambridge flags the lone plural verb — a textual-critical detail this unit's apparatus records.
20Then the rest of the people will hear and be afraid, and they will never again do anything so evil among you.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·han·niš·’ā·rîm yiš·mə·‘ū wə·yi·rā·’ū wə·lō- yō·si·p̄ū ‘ō·wḏ la·‘ă·śō·wṯ kad·dā·ḇār haz·zeh hā·rā‘ bə·qir·be·ḵā
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And those who remain shall hear and fear, and they shall not again continue to do according to this evil thing in your midst.
Where the English smooths the original
Those which remain, i.e. the rest of the people. See Deu 13:11 17:13 .Poole glosses the Niphal participle (niš'ārîm) and links the verse to the parallel deterrent formulas of Deut 13:11 and 17:13.
Those which survive the false witness shall hear of the punishment inflicted on him, and fear to commit the like sin, lest they should be punished in like manner.Gill ties hearing to fearing — the deterrent logic the assonant verb-pair (šāmaʻ / yārêʼ) carries.
those which remain , etc.] A curious parallel to Deuteronomy 13:11 (12).
Let all Christians not only be cautious in bearing witness in public, but be careful not to join in private slanders; and let all whose consciences accuse them of crime, without delay flee for refuge to the hope set before them in Jesus Christ.Henry turns the deterrent verse pastoral: the fear it provokes should bend the guilty not merely from the act but toward Christ for refuge.
21You must show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·lō ṯā·ḥō·ws ‘ê·ne·ḵā ne·p̄eš bə·ne·p̄eš ‘a·yin bə·‘a·yin šên bə·šên yāḏ bə·yāḏ re·ḡel bə·rā·ḡel
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And your eye shall not pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
Where the English smooths the original
And thine eye shall not pity,.... The false witness when convicted; this is directed to the judges, who should not spare such an one through favour or affection, but pronounce a righteous sentence on himGill assigns the command to the judges — the "eye" that must not pity is the court's, not the victim's.
An eye for an eye — What punishment the law allotted to the accused, if he had been convicted, the same was the false accuser to bear.Benson reads the talion in context: the lying witness bears exactly the penalty his victim would have suffered.
The lex talionis was in this case to be observed (cf. Exodus 21:23 ; Leviticus 24:20 ). Practically, however, a pecuniary compensation might be accepted for the offence (cf. Josephus, 'Antiq.,' 4:8, 35).The Pulpit Commentary records the judicial administration of the talion and the customary monetary commutation.
The lex talionis was to be applied without reserve (see at Exodus 21:23 ; Leviticus 24:20 ).
This is to be effected by the award of the judges, not as a matter of private revenge. But manifestly it rests with the injured party to press the case.Ellicott guards the talion from misreading: the eye-for-eye is a judicial sentence, never a license for personal vengeance — though the wronged party must bring the charge.
The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.
AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.
The unit opens on a single verb used twice. A lone witness shall not rise up (yāqūm, H6965) against a man, and only upon the mouth (ʻal pî, H6310) of two or three witnesses shall a matter rise / be established — the same yāqūm closing the verse. Matthew Poole catches the wordplay exactly: the opening verb is "the same word which in the end of the verse is rendered be established." The Cambridge Bible agrees, and Keil & Delitzsch frame the larger move: the rule once reserved for capital crimes in Deut 17:6 and Numbers 35:30 "is raised hereby into a law of general application." The "mouth" is meant literally: John Gill, citing Rashi, records that the witnesses may not "write their testimony in a letter, and send it to the sanhedrim, nor may an interpreter stand between the witnesses and the judges." Proof in Israel is anchored in living, plural, spoken testimony — one voice, however true, carries no legal weight.
The case-law turns to the liar. He is an ʻêḏ ḥāmās (H2555) — not merely a "false witness" but a witness of violence. The Cambridge Bible names the Hebrew precisely: "Heb. witness of violence . . . one who forces his evidence, does violence to the truth or intends violence to his neighbour." What he testifies is sārāh (H5627), a turning-aside, apostasy. Albert Barnes traces the word: "used Deuteronomy 13:5 to signify apostasy or revolt; here it is no doubt to be understood in the wider sense of any departure from the Law." The Pulpit Commentary adds the etymology — from sûr, "to go off, to go aside," so the noun "may describe any departure from what is constituted right." The false witness is thus doubly violent: he does violence to truth, and he charges his neighbor with having turned off the road of the law.
The remedy is the tribunal. The two parties shall stand (ʻāmaḏ, H5975) before the face of YHWH (lip̄nê YHWH, H6440) — which the Geneva note glosses as "God's presence where his true ministers are assembled." Albert Barnes states the theological hinge: "The judges acted as God's representative; to lie to them was to lie to Him." Keil & Delitzsch locate the court "at the place of the sanctuary, where Jehovah dwelt among His people." Then comes the duty of the bench: wəḏārəšû hêṭêḇ (H1875 + H3190), they shall search out well — Gill: "shall thoroughly examine the testimony given, and look carefully into it." Twice the verse rings with šeqer (H8267), "falsehood" — the very word, Cambridge notes, of the ninth commandment in Exodus 20:16 — and the man wronged is named brother (ʼāḥ, H251), "the usual term in Sg. passages for fellow-Israelite." The crime is perjury, but its victim is kin.
The sentence is exact reciprocity: you shall do to him as he plotted (zāmam, H2161) to do to his brother. The Pulpit Commentary marks the verb: it "frequently has the subaudition of meditating evil." Gill draws the talion: "Inflict the same fine or punishment on him he thought to have brought his brother under by his false testimony." Then the covenant formula — ūḇiʻartā hārāʻ (H1197), you shall burn away the evil from your midst (qereḇ, H7130, "inward part") — the fire-word Deuteronomy repeats over every defilement (Deut 13:5; 17:7). The Cambridge Bible flags a textual seam: the plural "shall ye do" is "the only Pl. in the passage . . . either a clerical error or an instance of" a writer slipping between forms of address. The effect is deterrence: those who remain shall hear and fear (šāmaʻ / yārêʼ, an assonant pair) — a verse Cambridge calls "a curious parallel to Deuteronomy 13:11."
The unit ends in the lex talionis. Your eye shall not pity (ʻêneḵā + ḥûs, H5869/H2347) — and Gill insists the command is to the bench: "directed to the judges, who should not spare such an one through favour or affection." Then the five clipped pairs: nep̄eš bənep̄eš (H5315), life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. Benson reads them in context: "What punishment the law allotted to the accused, if he had been convicted, the same was the false accuser to bear." Crucially, this is judicial, not vigilante: Ellicott — "This is to be effected by the award of the judges, not as a matter of private revenge" — and the Pulpit Commentary records that "practically, however, a pecuniary compensation might be accepted for the offence (cf. Josephus)." Keil & Delitzsch and Cambridge anchor the formula to Exodus 21:24 and Leviticus 24:20, where the same five-membered list already stands.
Read under Sola Scriptura, this is a law about the deadly power of a word. The whole unit hangs on dāḇār (H1697) — the "matter" that one mouth cannot make stand (v. 15) and the "evil thing" never to be done again (v. 20) — and on the recognition that a false word is an act of violence (ḥāmās, v. 16). So Israel's first defense of a neighbor's life is structural: no conviction on one mouth, every hard case dragged into the open before the face of the LORD, and the bench commanded to search out well. The genius of the statute is that it turns the liar's own design back upon him by exact measure — he bears what he plotted — so that the talion is not cruelty but symmetry: the penalty can never exceed the crime, because it is the crime, weighed back. And the eye that "shall not pity" is the judge's, not the avenger's; mercy that lets perjury stand is not mercy but the corruption of the court. The same Scripture that forbids the lone witness later puts the very rule on the lips of Christ (Matt 18:16) and Paul (2 Cor 13:1) — so the principle outlives the Sinai polity. Where the talion is hardest, the New Testament does not abolish the justice but relocates its execution: vengeance belongs to God, and the standard of two-or-three witnesses remains the church's safeguard against the witness of violence.
A lie sworn against a brother is not weak evidence — it is violence with a mouth, and the law answers it by the measure of its own intent. (This line is the tool's reading, not Scripture.)
AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.
Deuteronomy 19:15 universalizes the standard already set for capital crimes in Deut 17:6 and (in the Priestly law) Numbers 35:30 — Keil & Delitzsch: the rule "is raised hereby into a law of general application." The Verifier confirms a Hebrew↔Hebrew link sharing ʻêḏ (H5707, witness), peh (H6310, mouth), shâlôwsh (H7969, three) and ʼôw (H176, or) — the same legal formula ("upon the mouth of two or three witnesses"), not a quotation but a shared statutory pattern.
Deuteronomy 17:6 · Numbers 35:30
basis: Hebrew↔Hebrew shared lexemes (Verifier): H5707 ʻêḏ (59 vv), H6310 peh (459 vv), H7969 shâlôwsh (381 vv), H176 ʼôw (218 vv) — the witness-formula pattern; no quotation claimed.
The phrase "witness of violence" (ʻêḏ ḥāmās) in v. 16 is a fixed idiom for the malicious accuser. Its source is the covenant code itself: Exodus 23:1 forbids the Israelite, "thou shalt not be an unrighteous witness" — Heb. ʻêḏ ḥāmās, the very pairing of ʻêḏ (H5707) + châmâç (H2555) the Verifier finds shared here. Cambridge marks the same idiom, and Psalm 27:12 dramatizes it in David's cry: ʻêḏ + châmâç + qûm (H6965) — "false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out violence." None of the three texts quotes another; each independently deploys a fixed legal idiom, so I tier this structural rather than "verbal," though the shared two- and three-word collocations (witness + violence, + rise-up) are notably tight, and the Deut law is plainly the prohibition of Exodus 23:1 restated as a courtroom danger.
Exodus 23:1 · Psalm 27:12
basis: Hebrew↔Hebrew shared lexemes (Verifier): vs Exod 23:1, H5707 ʻêḏ (59 vv) + H2555 châmâç (59 vv) — the source idiom ʻêḏ ḥāmās; vs Ps 27:12, additionally H6965 qûm (596 vv) — "witness of violence rises up." Verifier defaulted to "verbal"; downgraded to structural because none of the verses quotes another — all share a fixed legal idiom.
The two charges this law weighs against the false witness — sārāh (H5627, "defection, turning-aside," v. 16) and šeqer (H8267, "falsehood," v. 18) — converge in Isaiah's great national confession. Isaiah 59:13 names the nation's guilt as "in transgressing and lying (šeqer) against the LORD, and departing away (sārāh) from our God." The Verifier confirms both lexemes are shared, and sārāh is rare — only 8 occurrences in the whole Bible. What the statute forbids in one lying witness, the prophet finds had become the posture of the whole people: the courtroom sin of "violence to the truth" had metastasized into covenant apostasy, so that "truth is fallen in the street" (Isa 59:14). The link is structural-to-verbal: a shared, weighty vocabulary, though Isaiah is not citing the statute.
Isaiah 59:13
basis: Hebrew↔Hebrew shared lexemes (Verifier): H5627 çârâh (rare — 8 vv, the defection-word of v. 16) + H8267 sheqer (109 vv, the falsehood-word of v. 18). Two weighty lexemes shared, one of them rare; not a quotation but a tight vocabulary overlap — the law's two charges become the prophet's indictment of the nation.
The rare verb zāmam (H2161, to plot evil — only 13 occurrences) keys the talion of v. 19: the witness bears "as he plotted to do to his brother." The Verifier links this to the Psalms of the plotting wicked — Psalm 37:12 ("the wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth") and Psalm 31:13 ("they devised to take away my life"). Psalm 37:12 even shares shên (H8127, tooth), the rarer member of v. 21's talion list. The pattern is thematic: the schemer's design recoils upon himself, which Scripture treats as a moral law (Prov 26:27).
Psalm 37:12 · Psalm 31:13
basis: Hebrew↔Hebrew shared lexeme (Verifier): H2161 zâmam (rare — 13 vv); Ps 37:12 additionally shares H8127 shên (48 vv). Shared motif of the wicked who plot; no quotation.
"So you shall burn away the evil from your midst" (v. 19) is Deuteronomy's recurring covenant refrain. The Verifier confirms a Hebrew↔Hebrew tie to Deut 13:5 (the false prophet) sharing bâʻar (H1197, burn/purge), raʻ (H7451, evil), and qereḇ (H7130, midst); the same formula recurs at Deut 17:7. And v. 20's "those who remain shall hear and fear" is, in Cambridge's words, "a curious parallel to Deuteronomy 13:11" — the matching deterrent clause. The link is structural: one statutory formula deployed across the code.
Deuteronomy 13:5 · Deuteronomy 17:7 · Deuteronomy 13:11
basis: Hebrew↔Hebrew shared lexemes (Verifier, vs Deut 13:5): H1197 bâʻar (90 vv), H7451 raʻ (623 vv), H7130 qereb (220 vv) — the "purge the evil from your midst" formula; Deut 13:11 parallel per Cambridge for the hear-and-fear clause.
"Life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot" (v. 21) is the same five-fold list standing at Exodus 21:24 and (with overlap) Leviticus 24:20. The Verifier confirms a Hebrew↔Hebrew structural link with Exodus 21:24 sharing the bodily nouns shên (H8127, tooth — the rarer term), regel (H7272, foot), ʻayin (H5869, eye), yâd (H3027, hand). Keil & Delitzsch and the Pulpit Commentary read all three texts as one talion-law; this is a shared legal formula, not a quotation of one by another.
Exodus 21:24 · Leviticus 24:20
basis: Hebrew↔Hebrew shared lexemes (Verifier, vs Exod 21:24): H8127 shên (48 vv), H7272 regel (230 vv), H5869 ʻayin (827 vv), H3027 yâd (1445 vv) — the matched talion list; one statutory formula, no quotation claimed.
Jesus (Matt 18:16) and Paul (2 Cor 13:1; cf. 1 Tim 5:19) explicitly invoke this Deuteronomic rule: "by the mouth of two or three witnesses every matter shall be established." These are genuine New Testament citations of Deut 19:15, but they are cross-Testament: the Greek of the Gospels and Epistles shares no Hebrew Strong's number with the Masoretic text, so the Verifier finds no lexeme overlap and the basis cannot be "verbal" by shared lemma. The provenance of the quotation is, however, explicit on the page of the NT itself; I flag it for the reader to verify the citation against the Greek (which renders the LXX of this verse), not because the link is doubtful but because the conceptual basis must be argued rather than read off shared lexemes.
Matthew 18:16 · 2 Corinthians 13:1 · 1 Timothy 5:19
basis: Cross-Testament (Greek↔Hebrew): Verifier finds NO shared Strong's lexeme — a Greek NT verse cannot share a Hebrew number, so this cannot be tiered "verbal." The NT explicitly cites Deut 19:15 (via LXX); flagged so the reader verifies the quotation in the Greek rather than asserting a lexeme link.
AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.
This very statute frames the trial of Jesus. The Sanhedrin "sought false witness against Jesus, to put him to death" (Matt 26:59-60), and Mark notes their testimony did not agree — the two-or-three rule (v. 15) failing precisely because the witnesses were of violence (ḥāmās, v. 16). The penalty Deuteronomy 19:19 demands for the lying witness — that he bear what he plotted — fell instead upon the innocent: the schemers' design stood, and the just One was condemned. The reading is widely held in the church: the law that protected a brother's life was violated to take the life of the Brother of all, and the talion the false witness deserved was borne, by grace, in the substitution of the Cross.
Matthew 26:59 · Mark 14:56 · Psalm 27:12
Jesus cites this passage by name — "Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth" (Matt 5:38) — and redirects it from private retaliation, which the law never licensed (Ellicott: "not as a matter of private revenge"), to non-resistance of personal wrong. He does not call the lex talionis unjust; the standard "the penalty must equal the crime" is honored, but its execution is taken out of the avenger's hand and committed to God (Rom 12:19). The deepest fulfillment is substitutionary: the exact reciprocity Deuteronomy demands — life for life — is satisfied not by exacting it from sinners but by Christ giving "his life a ransom" (Mark 10:45), life for life, so that the eye need not pity because justice has already been borne. This Christological reading of the talion is a novel synthesis here, offered to be tested, not a settled patristic gloss.
Matthew 5:38 · Romans 12:19 · Mark 10:45
The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.
Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:
This unit is seven Hebrew verses, so every same-language cross-reference is Hebrew→Hebrew and is tiered from the Verifier's computed shared Strong's lexemes (recorded in each badge). Three honesty notes for this unit: (1) The Deut 19:16 ↔ Psalm 27:12 link ("witness of violence rises up") was returned by the Verifier as verbal / quotation on the strength of three shared lexemes (ʻêḏ + châmâç + qûm), but I have downgraded it to structural under the prefer-under-claiming rule: neither verse quotes the other; both independently use a fixed idiom. (2) The New Testament citations of the two-witness rule (Matt 18:16; 2 Cor 13:1; 1 Tim 5:19) are genuine quotations of Deut 19:15, yet they are cross-Testament — a Greek verse shares no Hebrew Strong's number, so the Verifier finds zero lexeme overlap and the link is tiered flagged — verify source: the basis is the explicit NT citation (via the LXX), which the reader should confirm in the Greek rather than read off a shared lemma. Cross-Testament Christ readings (Matt 5:38; 26:59) are likewise conceptual, never verbal. (3) Cambridge flags a real textual seam at v. 19 — "shall ye do" is the lone plural in an otherwise singular passage, "either a clerical error or" a slip between forms of address (confirmed by the Samaritan and LXX); this unit reports it but the parsed forms (Berean/Strong's) are followed, not overruled.
✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)