Liber Numeri 35
1 haec quoque locutus est Dominus ad Mosen in campestribus Moab super Iordanem contra Hiericho
Yahweh spoke to Moses on the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho and said,
2 praecipe filiis Israhel ut dent Levitis de possessionibus suis
“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 urbes ad habitandum et suburbana earum per circuitum ut ipsi in oppidis maneant et suburbana sint pecoribus ac iumentis
The Levites will have these cities to live in. The pastureland will be for their cattle, their flocks, and all their animals.
4 quae a muris civitatum forinsecus per circuitum mille passuum spatio tendentur
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 contra orientem duo milia erunt cubiti et contra meridiem similiter duo milia ad mare quoque quod respicit occidentem eadem mensura erit et septentrionalis plaga aequali termino finietur eruntque urbes in medio et foris suburbana
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 de ipsis autem oppidis quae Levitis dabitis sex erunt in fugitivorum auxilia separata ut fugiat ad ea qui fuderit sanguinem exceptis his alia quadraginta duo oppida
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 id est simul quadraginta octo cum suburbanis suis
The cities that you give to the Levites will total forty-eight. You must give their pasturelands with them.
8 ipsaeque urbes quae dabuntur de possessionibus filiorum Israhel ab his qui plus habent plures auferentur et qui minus pauciores singuli iuxta mensuram hereditatis suae dabunt oppida Levitis
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 ait Dominus ad Mosen
Then Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,
10 loquere filiis Israhel et dices ad eos quando transgressi fueritis Iordanem in terram Chanaan
“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, 'When you cross over the Jordan into the land of Canaan,
11 decernite quae urbes esse debeant in praesidia fugitivorum qui nolentes sanguinem fuderint
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 in quibus cum fuerit profugus cognatus occisi eum non poterit occidere donec stet in conspectu multitudinis et causa illius iudicetur
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 de ipsis autem urbibus quae ad fugitivorum subsidia separantur
You must choose six cities as cities of refuge.
14 tres erunt trans Iordanem et tres in terra Chanaan
You must provide three cities beyond the Jordan and three in the land of Canaan. They will be cities of refuge.
15 tam filiis Israhel quam advenis atque peregrinis ut confugiat ad eas qui nolens sanguinem fuderit
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 si quis ferro percusserit et mortuus fuerit qui percussus est reus erit homicidii et ipse morietur
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 si lapidem iecerit et ictus occubuerit similiter punietur
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 si ligno percussus interierit percussoris sanguine vindicabitur
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 propinquus occisi homicidam interficiet statim ut adprehenderit eum percutiet
The avenger of blood may put the murderer to death. When he meets him, the avenger of blood must put him to death.
20 si per odium quis hominem inpulerit vel iecerit quippiam in eum per insidias
If he strikes another in hatred or throws something at him, while hiding to ambush him, so that the victim dies,
21 aut cum esset inimicus manu percusserit et ille mortuus fuerit percussor homicidii reus erit cognatus occisi statim ut invenerit eum iugulabit
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 quod si fortuito et absque odio
But if an accused man suddenly hits a victim without premeditated hate or throws something that hits the victim without lying in wait
23 et inimicitiis quicquam horum fecerit
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 et hoc audiente populo fuerit conprobatum atque inter percussorem et propinquum sanguinis quaestio ventilata
In that case, the community must judge between the accused and the avenger of blood on the basis of 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
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 si interfector extra fines urbium quae exulibus deputatae sunt
But if the accused man at any time goes beyond the border of the city of refuge to which he fled,
27 fuerit inventus et percussus ab eo qui ultor est sanguinis absque noxa erit qui eum occiderit
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 debuerat enim profugus usque ad mortem pontificis in urbe residere postquam autem ille obierit homicida revertetur in terram suam
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 haec sempiterna erunt et legitima in cunctis habitationibus vestris
These laws must be statutes for you through all your people's generations in all the places where you live.
30 homicida sub testibus punietur ad unius testimonium nullus condemnabitur
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 non accipietis pretium ab eo qui reus est sanguinis statim et ipse morietur
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 exules et profugi ante mortem pontificis nullo modo in urbes suas reverti poterunt
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 ne polluatis terram habitationis vestrae quae insontium cruore maculatur nec aliter expiari potest nisi per eius sanguinem qui alterius sanguinem fuderit
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 atque ita emundabitur vestra possessio me commorante vobiscum ego enim sum Dominus qui habito inter filios Israhel
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.'”
