Deuteronomy 19:15

"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 a matter be established. If an unrighteous witness rise up against any man to testify against him of wrong-doing, then both the men between whom the controversy is, shall stand before Jehovah, before the priests and the judges that shall be in those days; and the judges shall make diligent inquisition; and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and have testified falsely against his brother; then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to do unto his brother: so shalt thou put away the evil from the midst of thee. And those that remain shall hear, and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil in the midst of thee, And thine eye shall not pity; life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot."

Here are the instructions regarding witnesses. Paramount in this connection is that nothing shall be decided upon the testimony of a single witness. Christ himself appealed to this principle, pointing out that John the Baptism was a witness of Himself, that the Father in heaven was another witness, that the very works which Christ did constituted a witness, and that He of necessity bore witness of himself, being indeed "The Light of the World," because, in the very nature of light, it must bear witness of itself!

"One witness shall not rise up against a man ..." Orlinsky stated that a better rendition of this clause is, "One witness shall not validate any matter against another."[13]

"Diligent inquisition ..." (Deuteronomy 19:18). "This was to be no resort to ordeal, as in the customs of legal practice among Israel's neighbors."[14] As a matter of fact, the Jewish judges became very skilled in carrying on such inquisitions, and they learned how to grill and cross-examine witnesses in such a manner as to expose the pretensions of false witnesses. For example, there is the legendary example of Daniel who exposed two false witnesses who conspired to condemn a Jewish maiden for adultery, when, as a matter of fact, it was merely their attempt to vent their hatred against the maiden who stubbornly refused to commit adultery with either one of them. They had accused her of this crime which allegedly was committed under a tree. Daniel separated the witnesses, asked them, by turns, what kind of tree it was, and when their testimony did not agree, procured the condemnation of both the accusers!

Deuteronomy 19:21 is commonly called the "Lex Talionis," but as Blair wrote: "Eye for eye justice, while not in good repute among most Christians, was actually an attempt to limit vengeance to equitable proportions."[15] Under the law of the jungle, vengeance was multiplied a hundred times against any offender unfortunate enough to experience it. "If you knock out one of my eyes, I'll knock out both of yours, your teeth also, and bash in your head and kill your wife and all your children." It is against that background that we should read the beauty and glory of all of these Divine laws. Also, such a conception was doubtless a help to judges who found in the role some suggestion of what constituted a just penalty for a given transgression. Christ's own teachings regarding this are found in Matthew 5:38-42, where is laid down the principle that individuals should not seek to retaliate against offenders, but "turn the other cheek, go the second mile, give the cloak also."