The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Numbers 35
1 Yahweh spoke to Moses in the plains of
Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying,
2 “Command the childrenofIsraelto give
to the Levites cities to dwell in out of their
inheritance. You shall give pasture lands
for the cities around them to the Levites.
3 They shall have the cities to dwell in.
Their pasture lands shall be for their livestock, and for their possessions, and for all
their animals.
4 “The pasture lands of the cities, which
you shall give to the Levites, shall be from
the wall of the city and outward one thousand cubits† around it.
5 You shall measure outside of the city
for the east side two thousand cubits, and
for the south side two thousand cubits, and
for the west side two thousand cubits, and
for the north side two thousand cubits, the
city being in the middle. This shall be the
pasture lands of their cities.
6 “The cities which you shall give to
the Levites, they shall be the six cities of
refuge, which you shall give for the man
slayer to flee to. Besides them you shall
give forty-two cities.
7 All the cities which you shall give to the
Levites shall be forty-eight cities together
with their pasture lands.
8 Concerning the cities which you shall
give of the possession of the children of
Israel, from the many you shall take many,
and from the few you shall take few. Everyone according to his inheritance which
he inherits shall give some of his cities to
the Levites.”
9 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
10 “Speak to the children of Israel, and
tell them, ‘When you pass over the Jordan
into the land of Canaan,
11 then you shall appoint for yourselves
cities to be cities of refuge for you, that
themanslayer who kills any personunwittingly may flee there.
12 The cities shall be for your refuge from
the avenger, that the man slayer not die
until he stands before the congregation for
judgment.
13 The cities which you shall give shall be
for you six cities of refuge.
14 You shall give three cities beyond the
Jordan, and you shall give three cities in
the land of Canaan. They shall be cities of
refuge.
15 These six cities shall be refuge for the
children of Israel, for the stranger, and
for the foreigner living among them, that
everyone who kills any personunwittingly
may flee there.
16 “ ‘But if he struck him with an instrument of iron, so that he died, he is a
murderer. The murderer shall surely be put to
death.
17 If he struck him with a stone in the
hand, by which a man may die, and he
died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall
surely be put to death.
18 Or if he struck him with a weapon of
wood in the hand, by which a man may
die, and he died, he is a murderer. The
murderer shall surely be put to death.
19 The avenger of blood shall himself put
the murderer to death. When he meets
him, he shall put him to death.
20 If he shoved him out of hatred, or
hurled something at him while lying in
wait, so that he died,
21 or in hostility struck him with his
hand, so that he died, he who struck him
shall surely be put to death. He is a murderer. The avenger of blood shall put the
murderer to death when he meets him.
22 “ ‘But if he shoved him suddenly without hostility, or hurled on him anything
without lying in wait,
23 or withany stone, by whichamanmay
die, not seeing him, and cast it on him so
that he died, and he was not his enemy and
not seeking his harm,
24 then the congregation shall judge between the striker and the avenger of blood
according to these ordinances.
25 The congregation shall deliver the
man slayer out of the hand of the avenger
of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to his city of refuge, where he
had fled. He shall dwell therein until the
death of the high priest, who was anointed
with the holy oil.
26 “ ‘But if the man slayer shall at any
time go beyond the border of his city of
refuge where he flees,
27 and the avenger of blood finds him
outside of the border of his city of refuge,
and the avenger of blood kills the man
slayer, he shall not be guilty of blood,
28 because he should have remained in
his city of refuge until the death of the
high priest. But after the death of the high
priest, the man slayer shall return into the
land of his possession.
29 “ ‘These things shall be for a statute
and ordinance to you throughout your
generations in all your dwellings.
30 “ ‘Whoever kills any person, the murderer shall be slain based on the testimony
of witnesses; but one witness shall not
testify alone against any person so that he
dies.
31 “ ‘Moreover you shall take no ransom
for the life of a murderer who is guilty of
death. He shall surely be put to death.
32 “ ‘You shall take no ransom for him
who has fled to his city of refuge, that he
may come again to dwell in the land before
the death of the priest.
33 “ ‘So you shall not pollute the land
where you live; for blood pollutes the land.
No atonement can be made for the land for
the blood that is shed in it, but by the blood
of him who shed it.
34 You shall not defile the land which you
inhabit, where I dwell;for I,Yahweh, dwell
among the children of Israel.’ ”