יַ֣ד הָעֵדִ֞ים תִּֽהְיֶה־בּ֤וֹ בָרִאשֹׁנָה֙ לַהֲמִית֔וֹ וְיַ֥ד כׇּל־הָעָ֖ם בָּאַחֲרֹנָ֑ה וּבִֽעַרְתָּ֥ הָרָ֖ע מִקִּרְבֶּֽךָ׃
Let the hands of the witnesses be the first to put the condemned to death, followed by the hands of the rest of the people. Thus you will sweep out evil from your midst.
Torah Temimah points to the earlier treatment in Parashas Metzora (Leviticus 14:14).
יד העדים. זה לעיל בפ׳ מצורע בפסוק ועל בהן ידו הימנית.
English: “The hand of the witnesses.” This was already explained earlier in Parashas Metzora on the verse “and upon the thumb of his right hand.”
The requirement that the witnesses themselves begin the execution is cross-referenced to the parallel language of “hand” developed in the purification rites of the metzora.
Derash on the verse (cross-reference) — not a formal named middah of the 13. The verse is treated as restating a principle already established elsewhere.
The witnesses who testified must themselves take the first physical role in the execution.