< 約書亞記 20 >

1 上主訓示說:「
And the Lord spoke unto Joshua, saying,
2 你應告訴以色列子民說:他們應向照我藉梅瑟向你們所提及的,指定一些避難城,
speak to the children of Israel, saying, Appoint for yourselves the cities of refuge, whereof I have spoken unto you by the hand of Moses;
3 好使無心誤殺人的能逃到那裏去。這些城市作為你們逃避血仇者的地方
That thither may flee the manslayer that killeth any person unawares, without knowledge; and they shall be unto you for a refuge from the avenger of the blood.
4 那誤殺人的,只要逃往這些城中的一座,立於城門口,將自己的事,報告給這城的長老聽;長老就該將他接入城中,給他地方,讓他往在他們中間。
And he shall flee unto one of those cities, and he shall stand at the entrance of the gate of the city, and speak in the ears of the elders of that city his words; and they shall take him into the city unto them, and give him a place, that he may dwell among them.
5 如果報血仇者追來了,長老不可將他交於報血仇者手中,因為他殺人原是出於無心,素無仇恨。
And if the avenger of the blood should pursue after him, then shall they not deliver the manslayer up into his hand; because without knowledge did he smite his neighbor, and he was not an enemy to him in time past.
6 殺人者應往在這城內,直到他在會眾前出庭受審,直到現任的大司祭去世之後,方可回到本城本家,即由之逃出城市。」
And he shall dwell in that city, until he shall have stood before the congregation for judgment, [and] until the death of the high-priest that may be in those days: then shall the manslayer return, and come unto his own house, unto the city whence he hath fled.
7 以色列人於是在納斐塔里山區,指定了加里肋亞的刻德士;在厄弗辣因山區指定了舍根;在猶大山區指定了克黎雅特阿爾耳巴,即赫貝龍;
And they appointed Kedesh in Galilee in the mountain of Naphtali, and Shechem in the mountain of Ephraim, and Kiryath-arba', which is Hebron, in the mountain of Judah.
8 在約旦河東岸,耶利哥東面,在曠野高原裏,勒烏本支派內指定了貝責爾;在加得支派內,指定了基肋阿得的辣摩特;在默納協支派內,指定了巴商的哥藍。
And on the other side of the Jordan by Jericho eastward, they appointed Bezer in the wilderness in the plain from the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gil'ad from the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan from the tribe of Menasseh.
9 以上是為所有的以色列人和寄他們中間的外方人指定的城市,使凡誤殺人的,能逃往那裏去,在他未出庭受會眾審判以前,不致死在報血仇者的手裏。
These were the cities assigned for all the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them, that thither might flee whosoever killeth any person at unawares, and that he should not die by the hand of the avenger of the blood, until he have stood before the congregation.

< 約書亞記 20 >