Numbers 35

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

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

2 “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.

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

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

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

4 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.

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

5 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.

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.

6 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.

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.

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

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

8 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.”

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.”

9 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

Then the LORD said to Moses,

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

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

11 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.

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

12 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.

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.

13 You must choose six cities as cities of refuge.

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

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

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

15 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.

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.

16 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.

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.

17 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.

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.

18 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.

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.

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

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

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

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

21 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.

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.

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

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

23 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.

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

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

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

25 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.

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.

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

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

27 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.

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

28 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.

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.

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

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

30 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.

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.

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

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

32 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.

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.

33 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.

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.

34 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.'”

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