Liber Numeri 35
1 Hæc quoque locutus est Dominus ad Moysen in campestribus Moab supra Jordanem, contra Jericho:
And the Lord said to Moses in the lowlands of Moab by Jordan at Jericho,
2 Præcipe filiis Israël ut dent Levitis de possessionibus suis
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 urbes ad habitandum, et suburbana earum per circuitum: ut ipsi in oppidis maneant, et suburbana sint pecoribus ac jumentis:
These towns are to be their living-places, with land round them for their cattle and their food and all their beasts,
4 quæ a muris civitatum forinsecus, per circuitum, mille passuum spatio tendentur.
Stretching from the wall of the towns a distance of a thousand cubits all round.
5 Contra orientem duo millia erunt cubiti, et contra meridiem similiter erunt duo millia: ad mare quoque, quod respicit ad occidentem, eadem mensura erit, et septentrionalis plaga æquali termino finietur, eruntque urbes in medio, et foris suburbana.
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 De ipsis autem oppidis, quæ Levitis dabitis, sex erunt in fugitivorum auxilia separata, ut fugiat ad ea qui fuderit sanguinem: et exceptis his, alia quadraginta duo oppida,
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 id est, simul quadraginta octo cum suburbanis suis.
Forty-eight towns are to be given to the Levites, all with land round them.
8 Ipsæque urbes, quæ dabuntur de possessionibus filiorum Israël, ab his qui plus habent, plures auferentur: et qui minus, pauciores: singuli juxta mensuram hæreditatis suæ dabunt oppida Levitis.
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 Ait Dominus ad Moysen:
And the Lord said to Moses,
10 Loquere filiis Israël, et dices ad eos: Quando transgressi fueritis Jordanem in terram Chanaan,
Say to the children of Israel, when you have gone over Jordan into the land of Canaan;
11 decernite quæ urbes esse debeant in præsidia fugitivorum, qui nolentes sanguinem fuderint:
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 in quibus cum fuerit profugus, cognatus occisi non poterit eum occidere, donec stet in conspectu multitudinis, et causa illius judicetur.
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 De ipsis autem urbibus, quæ ad fugitivorum subsidia separantur,
Six of the towns which you give will be such safe places;
14 tres erunt trans Jordanem, et tres in terra Chanaan,
Three on the other side of Jordan and three in the land of Canaan, to be safe places for flight.
15 tam filiis Israël quam advenis atque peregrinis, ut confugiat ad eas qui nolens sanguinem fuderit.
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 Si quis ferro percusserit, et mortuus fuerit qui percussus est, reus erit homicidii, et ipse morietur.
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 Si lapidem jecerit, et ictus occubuerit, similiter punietur.
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 Si ligno percussus interierit, percussoris sanguine vindicabitur.
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 Propinquus occisi, homicidam interficiet: statim ut apprehenderit eum, interficiet.
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 Si per odium quis hominem impulerit, vel jecerit quippiam in eum per insidias:
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 aut cum esset inimicus, manu percusserit, et ille mortuus fuerit: percussor homicidii reus erit: cognatus occisi statim ut invenerit eum, jugulabit.
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 Quod si fortuitu, et absque odio
But if a man has given a wound to another suddenly and not in hate, or without design has sent something against him,
23 et inimicitiis quidquam horum fecerit,
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 et hoc audiente populo fuerit comprobatum, atque inter percussorem et propinquum sanguinis quæstio ventilata:
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 liberabitur innocens de ultoris manu, et reducetur per sententiam in urbem, ad quam confugerat, manebitque ibi, donec sacerdos magnus, qui oleo sancto unctus est, moriatur.
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 Si interfector extra fines urbium, quæ exulibus deputatæ sunt,
But if ever he goes outside the walls of the safe town where he had gone in flight,
27 fuerit inventus, et percussus ab eo qui ultor est sanguinis: absque noxa erit qui eum occiderit.
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 Debuerat enim profugus usque ad mortem pontificis in urbe residere. Postquam autem ille obierit, homicida revertetur in terram suam.
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 Hæc sempiterna erunt, et legitima in cunctis habitationibus vestris.
These rules are to be your guide in judging through all your generations wherever you may be living.
30 Homicida sub testibus punietur: ad unius testimonium nullus condemnabitur.
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 Non accipietis pretium ab eo qui reus est sanguinis, statim et ipse morietur.
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 Exules et profugi ante mortem pontificis nullo modo in urbes suas reverti poterunt,
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 ne polluatis terram habitationis vestræ, quæ insontium cruore maculatur: nec aliter expiari potest, nisi per ejus sanguinem, qui alterius sanguinem fuderit.
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 Atque ita emundabitur vestra possessio me commorante vobiscum. Ego enim sum Dominus qui habito inter filios Israël.
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.
