Numbers 35

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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 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.

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

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

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.”

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 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

And 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,

Say to the children of Israel, when you have gone over 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.

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 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.

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 You must choose six cities as cities of refuge.

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

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

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

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.

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 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.

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 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 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 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.

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

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

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

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

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 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.

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 accused man at any time goes beyond the border 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 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 giver of punishment, meeting him outside the walls of the town, puts him to death, he will not be responsible for his blood:

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

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

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.

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

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 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.

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 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 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.