Numbers 35

Numbers 35:1

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

Numbers 35:1 · BSB

Numbers 35:2

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

Numbers 35:2 · BSB

Numbers 35:3

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

Numbers 35:3 · BSB

Numbers 35:4

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

Numbers 35:4 · BSB

thousand cubits The Septuagint reads היףקיכיןץע נחקויע "two thousand cubits ," as in the following #### Verse; but this reading is not acknowledged by any other ancient version , except the Coptic , nor by any of the manuscripts collated by Kennicott and De Rossi. Various modes have been proposed for reconciling the accounts in these two #### Verses , which appear in general to require full as much explanation as the text itself. The explanation of Maimonides is the only one that is intelligible , and appears perfectly satisfactory. "The suburbs ," says he , "of the cities are expressed in the law to be 3 ,000 cubits on every side , from the wall of the city and outwards. The first 1 ,000 cubits are the suburbs; and the 2 ,000 , which they measured without the suburbs , were for fields and vineyards." The whole therefore , of the city , suburbs , fields , and vineyards , may be represented by the following diagram .

Fields and vineyards Suburbs City 1 ,000; Cubits 2 ,000; Cubits

Numbers 35:6

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.

Numbers 35:6 · BSB

to them ye shall add Heb. above them ye shall give

Numbers 35:7

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

Numbers 35:7 · BSB

Numbers 35:8

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.”

Numbers 35:8 · BSB

he inheriteth Heb. they inherit

Numbers 35:10

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

Numbers 35:10 · BSB

Numbers 35:11

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

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Numbers 35:12

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.

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Numbers 35:13

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

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Numbers 35:14

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

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Numbers 35:15

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.

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Numbers 35:16

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.

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Numbers 35:17

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.

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Numbers 35:19

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

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Numbers 35:20

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

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Numbers 35:21

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.

Numbers 35:21 · BSB

Numbers 35:22

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

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Numbers 35:23

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

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Numbers 35:24

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

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Numbers 35:25

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.

Numbers 35:25 · BSB

Numbers 35:26

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

Numbers 35:26 · BSB

After the manslayer had been received into the city of refuge , the avenger of blood could only act as prosecutor; and the magistrates , in the presence of the people , were appointed to decide the cause according to the rules here laid down. Probably the accused person was tried at or near the place where the deceased had been slain , and where evidence could most easily be brought , and in case he was acquitted by the decision of the judges , and with the approbation of the people , he was conveyed back to the city of refuge , where he was protected as a kind of prisoner at large , till the death of the high priest; when the public loss , and the grief occasioned by it , might be supposed to swallow up all personal regrets and resentments , and then he was permitted to return to his house and estate. But if , in the mean while , he ventured to leave the city , and the avenger met him and slew him , he was supposed to merit his doom by thus neglecting the appointment of God for his preservation , and the avenger must not be punished. This shews that in other cases , if the avenger slew an innocent man on surmise , he was liable to the punishment of a murderer; but if , by the testimony of two credible witnesses , the man who had fled to the city of refuge was adjudged guilty , he must without fail be put to death.

Numbers 35:27

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

Numbers 35:27 · BSB

Numbers 35:28

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.

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Numbers 35:29

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

Numbers 35:29 · BSB

Numbers 35:30

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.

Numbers 35:30 · BSB

Numbers 35:31

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

Numbers 35:31 · BSB

guilty of death Heb. faulty to die

Numbers 35:32

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.

Numbers 35:32 · BSB

Numbers 35:33

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.

Numbers 35:33 · BSB

the land cannot be cleansed Heb. there can be no expiation for the land

Numbers 35:34

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

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