Numbers 35

1 The LORD spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying,

And the Lord spoke these things also to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, over against Jericho:

2 “Command the children of Israel to give to the Levites cities to dwell in out of their inheritance. You shall give pasture lands for the cities around them to the Levites.

Command the children of Israel that they give to the Levites out of their possessions,

3 They shall have the cities to dwell in. Their pasture lands shall be for their livestock, and for their possessions, and for all their animals.

Cities to dwell in, and their suburbs round about: that they may abide in the towns, and the suburbs may be for their cattle and beasts:

4 “The pasture lands of the cities, which you shall give to the Levites, shall be from the wall of the city and outward one thousand cubits around it.

Which suburbs shall reach from the walls of the cities outward, a thousand paces on every side:

5 You shall measure outside of the city for the east side two thousand cubits, and for the south side two thousand cubits, and for the west side two thousand cubits, and for the north side two thousand cubits, the city being in the middle. This shall be the pasture lands of their cities.

Toward the east shall be two thousand cubits: and toward the south in like manner shall be two thousand cubits: toward the sea also, which looketh to the west, shall be the same extent: and the north side shall be bounded with the like limits. And the cities shall be in the midst, and the suburbs without.

6 “The cities which you shall give to the Levites, they shall be the six cities of refuge, which you shall give for the man slayer to flee to. Besides them you shall give forty-two cities.

And among the cities, which you shall give to the Levites, six shall be separated for refuge to fugitives, that he who hath shed blood may flee to them: and besides these there shall be other forty-two cities,

7 All the cities which you shall give to the Levites shall be forty-eight cities together with their pasture lands.

That is, in all forty-eight with their suburbs.

8 Concerning the cities which you shall give of the possession of the children of Israel, from the many you shall take many, and from the few you shall take few. Everyone according to his inheritance which he inherits shall give some of his cities to the Levites.”

And of these cities which shall be given out of the possessions of the children of Israel, from them that have more, more shall be taken: and from them that have less, fewer. Each shall give towns to the Levites according to the extent of their inheritance.

9 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

The Lord said to Moses:

10 “Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘When you pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan,

Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: When you shall have passed over the Jordan into the land of Chanaan,

11 then you shall appoint for yourselves cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the man slayer who kills any person unwittingly may flee there.

Determine what cities shall be for the refuge of fugitives, who have shed blood against their will.

12 The cities shall be for your refuge from the avenger, that the man slayer not die until he stands before the congregation for judgement.

And when the fugitive shall be in them, the kinsman of him that is slain may not have power to kill him, until he stand before the multitude, and his cause be judged.

13 The cities which you shall give shall be for you six cities of refuge.

And of those cities, that are separated for the refuge of fugitives,

14 You shall give three cities beyond the Jordan, and you shall give three cities in the land of Canaan. They shall be cities of refuge.

Three shall be beyond the Jordan, and three in the land of Chanaan,

15 These six cities shall be refuge for the children of Israel, for the stranger, and for the foreigner living amongst them, that everyone who kills any person unwittingly may flee there.

As well for the children of Israel as for strangers and sojourners, that he may flee to them, who hath shed blood against his will.

16 “‘But if he struck him with an instrument of iron, so that he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall surely be put to death.

If any man strike with iron, and he die that was struck: he shall be guilty of murder, and he himself shall die.

17 If he struck him with a stone in the hand, by which a man may die, and he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall surely be put to death.

If he throw a stone, and he that is struck die: he shall be punished in the same manner.

18 Or if he struck him with a weapon of wood in the hand, by which a man may die, and he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall surely be put to death.

If he that is struck with wood die: he shall be revenged by the blood of him that struck him.

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

The kinsman of him that was slain, shall kill the murderer: as soon as he apprehendeth him, he shall kill him.

20 If he shoved him out of hatred, or hurled something at him while lying in wait, so that he died,

If through hatred any one push a man, or fling any thing at him with ill design:

21 or in hostility struck him with his hand, so that he died, he who struck him shall surely be put to death. He is a murderer. The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when he meets him.

Or being his enemy, strike; him with his hand, and he die: the striker shall be guilty of murder: the kinsman of him that was slain as soon as he findeth him, shall kill him.

22 “‘But if he shoved him suddenly without hostility, or hurled on him anything without lying in wait,

But if by chance medley, and without hatred,

23 or with any stone, by which a man may die, not seeing him, and cast it on him so that he died, and he was not his enemy and not seeking his harm,

And enmity, he do any of these things,

24 then the congregation shall judge between the striker and the avenger of blood according to these ordinances.

And this be proved in the hearing of the people, and the cause be debated between him that struck, and the next of kin:

25 The congregation shall deliver the man slayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to his city of refuge, where he had fled. He shall dwell therein until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil.

The innocent shall be delivered from the hand of the revenger, and shall be brought back by sentence into the city, to which he had fled, and he shall abide there until the death of the high priest, that is anointed with the holy oil.

26 “‘But if the man slayer shall at any time go beyond the border of his city of refuge where he flees,

If the murderer be found without the limits of the cities that are appointed for the banished,

27 and the avenger of blood finds him outside of the border of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the man slayer, he shall not be guilty of blood,

And be struck by him that is the avenger of blood: he shall not be guilty that killed him.

28 because he should have remained in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest, the man slayer shall return into the land of his possession.

For the fugitive ought to have stayed in the city until the death of the high priest: and after he is dead, then shall the manslayer return to his own country.

29 “‘These things shall be for a statute and ordinance to you throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

These things shall be perpetual, and for an ordinance in all your dwellings.

30 “‘Whoever kills any person, the murderer shall be slain based on the testimony of witnesses; but one witness shall not testify alone against any person so that he dies.

The murderer shall be punished by witnesses: none shall be condemned upon the evidence of one man.

31 “‘Moreover you shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death. He shall surely be put to death.

You shall not take money of him that is guilty of blood, but he shall die forthwith.

32 “‘You shall take no ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge, that he may come again to dwell in the land before the death of the priest.

The banished and fugitives before the death of the high priest may by no means return into their own cities.

33 “‘So you shall not pollute the land where you live; for blood pollutes the land. No atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, but by the blood of him who shed it.

Defile not the land of your habitation, which is stained with the blood of the innocent: neither can it otherwise be expiated, but by his blood that hath shed the blood of another.

34 You shall not defile the land which you inhabit, where I dwell; for I, the LORD, dwell amongst the children of Israel.’”

And thus shall your possession he cleansed, myself abiding with you. For I am the Lord that dwell among the children of Israel.