Numbers 35

1 Again the LORD spoke to Moses on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho:

And the Lord said to Moses in the lowlands of Moab by Jordan at Jericho,

2 “Command the Israelites to give, from the inheritance they will possess, cities for the Levites to live in and pasturelands around the cities.

Give orders to the children of Israel to give to the Levites, from the heritage which is theirs, towns for themselves, with land on the outskirts of the towns.

3 The cities will be for them to live in, and the pasturelands will be for their herds, their flocks, and all their other livestock.

These towns are to be their living-places, with land round them for their cattle and their food and all their beasts,

4 The pasturelands around the cities you are to give the Levites will extend a thousand cubits from the wall on every side.

Stretching from the wall of the towns a distance of a thousand cubits all round.

5 You are also to measure two thousand cubits outside the city on the east, two thousand on the south, two thousand on the west, and two thousand on the north, with the city in the center. These areas will serve as larger pasturelands for the cities.

The measure of this space of land is to be two thousand cubits outside the town on the east, and two thousand cubits on the south and on the west and on the north, the town being in the middle. This space will be the outskirts of their towns.

6 Six of the cities you give the Levites are to be appointed as cities of refuge, to which a manslayer may flee. In addition to these, give the Levites forty-two other cities.

And the towns which you give the Levites are to be the six safe places to which the taker of life may go in flight; and in addition you are to give them forty-two towns.

7 The total number of cities you give the Levites will be forty-eight, with their corresponding pasturelands.

Forty-eight towns are to be given to the Levites, all with land round them.

8 The cities that you apportion from the territory of the Israelites should be given to the Levites in proportion to the inheritance of each tribe: more from a larger tribe and less from a smaller one.”

And these towns are to be given out of the heritage of the children of Israel, taking the greater number from those who have much, and a smaller number from those who have little: everyone, in the measure of his heritage, is to give of his property to the Levites.

9 Then the LORD said to Moses,

And the Lord said to Moses,

10 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan,

Say to the children of Israel, when you have gone over Jordan into the land of Canaan;

11 designate cities to serve as your cities of refuge, so that a person who kills someone unintentionally may flee there.

Then let certain towns be marked out as safe places to which anyone who takes the life of another in error may go in flight.

12 You are to have these cities as a refuge from the avenger, so that the manslayer will not die until he stands trial before the assembly.

In these towns you may be safe from him who has the right of punishment; so that death may not overtake the taker of life till he has been judged by the meeting of the people.

13 The cities you select will be your six cities of refuge.

Six of the towns which you give will be such safe places;

14 Select three cities across the Jordan and three in the land of Canaan as cities of refuge.

Three on the other side of Jordan and three in the land of Canaan, to be safe places for flight.

15 These six cities will serve as a refuge for the Israelites and for the foreigner or stranger among them, so that anyone who kills a person unintentionally may flee there.

For the children of Israel and for the man from another country who is living among them, these six towns are to be safe places, where anyone causing the death of another through error may go in flight.

16 If, however, anyone strikes a person with an iron object and kills him, he is a murderer; the murderer must surely be put to death.

But if a man gives another man a blow with an iron instrument, causing his death, he is a taker of life and is certainly to be put to death.

17 Or if anyone has in his hand a stone of deadly size, and he strikes and kills another, he is a murderer; the murderer must surely be put to death.

Or if he gives him a blow with a stone in his hand, causing his death, he is a taker of life and is certainly to be put to death.

18 If anyone has in his hand a deadly object of wood, and he strikes and kills another, he is a murderer; the murderer must surely be put to death.

Or if he gave him blows with a wood instrument in his hands, causing his death, he is a taker of life and is certainly to be put to death.

19 The avenger of blood is to put the murderer to death; when he finds him, he is to kill him.

He whose right it is to give punishment for blood, may himself put to death the taker of life when he comes face to face with him.

20 Likewise, if anyone maliciously pushes another or intentionally throws an object at him and kills him,

If in his hate he put a sword through him, or waiting secretly for him sent a spear or stone at him, causing his death;

21 or if in hostility he strikes him with his hand and he dies, the one who struck him must surely be put to death; he is a murderer. When the avenger of blood finds the murderer, he is to kill him.

Or in hate gave him blows with his hand, causing death; he who gave the death-blow is to be put to death; he is a taker of life: he whose right it is to give punishment for blood may put to death the taker of life when he comes face to face with him.

22 But if anyone pushes a person suddenly, without hostility, or throws an object at him unintentionally,

But if a man has given a wound to another suddenly and not in hate, or without design has sent something against him,

23 or without looking drops a heavy stone that kills him, but he was not an enemy and did not intend to harm him,

Or has given him a blow with a stone, without seeing him, so causing his death, though he had nothing against him and no desire to do him evil:

24 then the congregation must judge between the slayer and the avenger of blood according to these ordinances.

Then let the meeting of the people be judge between the man responsible for the death and him who has the right of punishment for blood, acting by these rules:

25 The assembly is to protect the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood. Then the assembly will return him to the city of refuge to which he fled, and he must live there until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil.

And let the people keep the man responsible for the death safe from the hands of him who has the right of punishment for blood, and send him back to his safe town where he had gone in flight: there let him be till the death of the high priest who was marked with the holy oil.

26 But if the manslayer ever goes outside the limits of the city of refuge to which he fled

But if ever he goes outside the walls of the safe town where he had gone in flight,

27 and the avenger of blood finds him outside of his city of refuge and kills him, then the avenger will not be guilty of bloodshed

And the giver of punishment, meeting him outside the walls of the town, puts him to death, he will not be responsible for his blood:

28 because the manslayer must remain in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. Only after the death of the high priest may he return to the land he owns.

Because he had been ordered to keep inside the safe town till the death of the high priest: but after the death of the high priest the taker of life may come back to the place of his heritage.

29 This will be a statutory ordinance for you for the generations to come, wherever you live.

These rules are to be your guide in judging through all your generations wherever you may be living.

30 If anyone kills a person, the murderer is to be put to death on the testimony of the witnesses. But no one is to be put to death based on the testimony of a lone witness.

Anyone causing the death of another is himself to be put to death on the word of witnesses: but the word of one witness is not enough.

31 You are not to accept a ransom for the life of a murderer who deserves to die; he must surely be put to death.

Further, no price may be given for the life of one who has taken life and whose right reward is death: he is certainly to be put to death.

32 Nor should you accept a ransom for the person who flees to a city of refuge and allow him to return and live on his own land before the death of the high priest.

And no price may be offered for one who has gone in flight to a safe town, for the purpose of letting him come back to his place before the death of the high priest.

33 Do not pollute the land where you live, for bloodshed pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land on which the blood is shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it.

So do not make the land where you are living unholy: for blood makes the land unholy: and there is no way of making the land free from the blood which has come on it, but only by the death of him who was the cause of it.

34 Do not defile the land where you live and where I dwell. For I, the LORD, dwell among the Israelites.”

Do not make unclean the land where you are living and in which is my House: for I the Lord am present among the children of Israel.