But the Bible recognises in capital punishment also a deterrent character and an expiatory character, in addition to its retributive character. It holds capital punishment to be a necessity as a deterrent. The phrases “and thou shalt remove the evil from thy midst,” “and Israel shall hear and understand and no more do this evil,” which occur many times, coupled with the admonition to impose capital punishment, show that this preventive purpose was closely associated with the imposition of the death penalty. Malicious false witnesses had to be treated as they would have treated the one against whom they had testified, so that the public should take warning.[82] The Bible also teaches explicitly that capital punishment is the just punishment for murder, in order to atone for the pollution of the land.[83] No pity was to be shown to the wilful murderer.[84] The right of sanctuary granted to the one guilty of manslaughter, was not granted to the murderer,[85] and the crime of shedding innocent blood had to be atoned for in order to cleanse the sacred community of Israel.[86] Yet the old Testament teaching of justice is tempered by mercy. “But if the wicked turn from all his sins ... he shall surely live, he shall not die.... Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked? saith the Lord God; and not rather that he should turn from his way and live.”[87] It was a duty to try to save those going to death.[88] The New Testament also admits the right of society to exact capital punishment.[89] We have seen that Philo, Josephus[90] and the apocryphal and apocalyptic books also do not doubt the reasonableness and necessity of capital punishment. In the last pre-Christian century, the Jewish people, particularly the Sadducees who were in the ascendant, still followed the Bible in their maintenance of the theory and the practise of capital punishment. The letter and the spirit of the Biblical laws governed Jewish practise. But in the first post-Christian centuries, these teachings of the Bible were modified in many directions.