One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sins. At the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall a matter be established. If an unrighteous witness rises up against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing, then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before Yahweh, before the priests and the judges who shall be in those days; and the judges shall make […]
⛓ Read Deuteronomy 19 forward — the whole chapter and its afterlife →Where this passage surfaces again, sorted by the strength of the link. Each kind of reuse — formal quotation, deliberate allusion, faint echo, figural pattern — carries its own mark. Follow any reference to read it in place.
Allusion2
A deliberate verbal borrowing without a citation formula.
Nicodemus' appeal to due process (v.51) reflects the law of inquiry and witnesses, where judges 'shall inquire diligently' and a matter is established only after examination. The insistence that the law not condemn without first hearing the accused matches the diligent-inquiry requirement. Strong verbal-conceptual contact and recurrence of the fair-hearing theme.
High confidenceFestus states the Roman rule that one is not handed over 'before the accused has met the accusers face to face, and has had opportunity to make his defense' (v.16). This due-process principle — confrontation of accuser and accused, diligent inquiry — directly mirrors Deuteronomy's law of witnesses, so that Roman custom is narrated in terms a Scripture-shaped reader recognizes. Thematic, not verbal quotation.
Medium confidenceEcho1
A fainter, low-volume reuse, carried by recurrence or thematic coherence.
Paul's insistence that no one can simply 'give him up' without a true case (v.11), and his demand to be tried where charges can be tested, resonates with the Torah's law of witnesses and diligent inquiry into accusation. The principle surfaces explicitly in Festus' own summary (v.16); here it is the implied legal backdrop. Contested.
Low confidence