Numbers 35

1 The Lord spoke to Moses on the plains of Moab beside the Jordan opposite Jericho. He told him,

Yahweh spoke to Moses on the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho and said,

2 “Order the Israelites to provide from their land allocation towns for the Levites to live in and pastures around the towns.

“Command the people of Israel to give some of their own shares of land to the Levites. They must give them cities to live in and pastureland surrounding those cities.

3 The towns are for them to live in, and the pastures will be for their herds and their flocks—for all their livestock.

The Levites will have these cities to live in. The pastureland will be for their cattle, their flocks, and all their animals.

4 The pastures around the towns you give to the Levites are to extend out from the wall a thousand cubits on all sides.

The pasturelands around the cities that you will give to the Levites must extend from the city walls for one thousand cubits in every direction.

5 Measure two thousand cubits outside the town on the east, two thousand on the south, two thousand on the west, and two thousand on the north, with the town in the middle. These areas will be their pastures around the towns.

You must measure two thousand cubits from outside the city on the east side, and two thousand cubits to the south side, two thousand cubits to the west side, and two thousand cubits to the north side. This will be the pasturelands for their cities. The cities will be in the center.

6 Six of the towns you give the Levites are to be sanctuary towns, where a person who kills someone can run for protection. As well as these towns, give the Levites forty-two more.

Six of the cities that you will give to Levites must serve as cities of refuge. You must provide these as places to which a person who has killed someone can flee. Also provide forty-two other cities.

7 The total number of towns you are to give the Levites is forty-eight, along with their pastures.

The cities that you give to the Levites will total forty-eight. You must give their pasturelands with them.

8 The towns that you allocate to be given to the Levites from the territory of the Israelites will be more from a larger tribe and less from a smaller one. The number will be in proportion to the size of the land allocation of each tribe.”

The larger tribes of the people of Israel, the tribes that have more land, must provide more cities. The smaller tribes will provide fewer cities. Each tribe must provide for the Levites according to the share that it has received.”

9 The Lord told Moses,

Then Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

10 “Tell the Israelites: ‘When you cross over the Jordan into Canaan,

“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, 'When you cross over the Jordan into the land of Canaan,

11 choose towns as your sanctuary towns, so a person who kills someone by mistake may run there.

then you must choose cities to serve as cities of refuge for you, a place to which a person who has killed someone unintentionally may flee.

12 These towns will be for you places of sanctuary from those seeking revenge, so that the killer will not die until they are tried in court.

These cities must be your refuge from the avenger, so that the accused man will not be killed without first standing trial before the community.

13 The towns you choose will be your six sanctuary towns.

You must choose six cities as cities of refuge.

14 Choose three cities on the other side of the Jordan and three in Canaan as cities of refuge.

You must provide three cities beyond the Jordan and three in the land of Canaan. They will be cities of refuge.

15 These six cities will be places of sanctuary for the Israelites and for foreigners or settlers among them, so that anyone who kills a person by mistake may run there.

For the people of Israel, for the foreigners, for anyone living among you, these six cities will serve as a refuge to which anyone who kills someone unintentionally can flee.

16 But if anyone deliberately hits someone with something made of iron and kills them, that person is a murderer and must be executed.

But if an accused man has struck his victim with an instrument of iron, and if his victim dies, then the accused is indeed a murderer. He must certainly be put to death.

17 If anyone picks up something made of stone that could be used as a weapon and hits someone with it, and kills them, that person is a murderer and must be executed.

If an accused man has struck his victim with a stone in his hand that might kill the victim, and if his victim dies, then the accused is indeed a murderer. He must certainly be put to death.

18 If anyone picks up something made of wood that could be used as a weapon and hits someone with it, and kills them, that person is a murderer and must be executed.

If an accused man has struck his victim with a wooden weapon that might kill the victim, and if the victim dies, then the accused is indeed a murderer. He must certainly be put to death.

19 The avenger is to execute the murderer. When he finds the murderer, he is to kill him.

The avenger of blood may put the murderer to death. When he meets him, the avenger of blood must put him to death.

20 Similarly, if anyone hates someone and knocks them down or deliberately throws something at them, and they're killed;

If he strikes another in hatred or throws something at him, while hiding to ambush him, so that the victim dies,

21 or if someone hits another with his hand and they die, the one who hit him must be executed because he is a murderer. When the avenger finds the murderer, he is to kill him.

or if he strikes him down in hatred with his hand so that the victim dies, then the accused who struck him must surely be put to death. He is a murderer. The avenger of blood may put the murderer to death when he meets him.

22 But if anyone knocks someone else down without meaning to and without hating them, or throws something at them not meaning to hurt them,

But if an accused man suddenly hits a victim without premeditated hate or throws something that hits the victim without lying in wait

23 or carelessly drops a heavy stone that kills them, but not as an enemy or intending to harm them,

or if he throws a stone that could kill a victim without seeing the victim, then the accused was not the victim's enemy; he was not trying to hurt the victim. But this is what to do if the victim dies anyway.

24 then the community must judge between the killer and the avenger following these regulations.

In that case, the community must judge between the accused and the avenger of blood on the basis of these rules.

25 The court is to protect the killer from being attacked by the avenger and must return him to the sanctuary town that he ran to, and he must stay there until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with holy oil.

The community must rescue the accused from the power of the avenger of blood. The community must return the accused to the city of refuge to which he had originally fled. He must live there until the death of the current high priest, the one who was anointed with the holy oil.

26 But if the killer ever leaves the limits of sanctuary town where they ran to,

But if the accused man at any time goes beyond the border of the city of refuge to which he fled,

27 and the avenger finds him them outside his sanctuary town and kills him, then the avenger will not be guilty of murder,

and if the avenger of blood finds him outside the border of his city of refuge, and if he kills the accused man, the avenger of blood will not be guilty of murder.

28 because the killer has to stay in his sanctuary town until the death of the high priest. Only after the death of the high priest are they allowed to return to the land they own.

This is because the accused man should have remained in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. After the death of the high priest, the accused may return to the land where he has his own property.

29 These regulations apply to all future generations wherever you live.

These laws must be statutes for you through all your people's generations in all the places where you live.

30 If anyone kills a person, the murderer is to be executed based on the evidence given by witnesses, plural. No one is to be executed based on the evidence given by a single witness.

Whoever kills any person, the murderer must be killed, as testified to by the words of witnesses. But one witness' word alone may not cause any person to be put to death.

31 You are not to accept payment instead of executing a murderer who has been found guilty—they must be executed.

Also, you must not accept ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of murder. He must certainly be put to death.

32 Also you are not allowed to accept payment for a person who runs to a sanctuary town and permit them to return and live on their own land before the death of the high priest.

You must not accept ransom for the one who has fled to a city of refuge. You must not in this way allow him to reside on his own property until the high priest dies.

33 Don't pollute the land where you live because bloodshed pollutes the land, and the land where blood is shed can't be purified except by the blood of the one who shed it.

Do not pollute in this way the land where you live, because blood from murder pollutes the land. No atonement can be made for the land when blood has been shed on it, except by the blood of the one who shed it.

34 Don't make the land impure where you live because I live there too. I am the Lord, and I live with the Israelites.”

So you must not defile the land in which you live because I am living in it. I, Yahweh, live among the people of Israel.'”