Numbers 35
35
The Levites’ Cities
Dt 4:41–43; 19:1–14; Jos 20:1–9
1And the Lord spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, # Nu 22:1 saying: 2Command the Israelites, and they will give to the Levites of the inheritance of their possession cities to dwell in, and you will give the Levites pasturelands around the city. # Jos 14:3–4; Eze 48:8 3The cities will be for them to dwell in, and their pasturelands will be for their livestock, and for their property, and for all their animals.
4The pasturelands of the cities, which you will give to the Levites, will reach from the wall of the city and beyond a thousand cubits # 35:4 About 1,500 feet, or 450 meters. all around. 5You will measure from without the city on the east side two thousand cubits, # 35:5 About 3,000 feet, or 900 meters. and on the south side two thousand cubits, and on the west side two thousand cubits, and on the north side two thousand cubits, and the city will be in the middle. This will be for them the pasturelands of the cities.
Cities of Refuge
6Among the cities which you will give to the Levites there will be six cities of refuge, which you will appoint for the manslayer, that he may flee there, # Jos 21:3, 13 and to them you will add forty-two cities. 7So all the cities which you will give to the Levites will be forty-eight cities. You will give them with their pasturelands. 8The cities which you shall give shall be from the possession of the Israelites. From the larger tribes you shall give many, and from the smaller tribes you shall give few. Each tribe, in proportion to the inheritance that it receives, shall give of its cities to the Levites. # Nu 26:54; 33:54
9The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 10Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you are crossing over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 11then you shall designate cities as your cities of refuge, so that a manslayer who unintentionally kills a person may flee there. # Ex 21:13; Jos 20:2 12The cities will be for you a refuge from the avenger, so that the manslayer does not die until he stands trial before the assembly. # Dt 19:6; Jos 20:3–6 13The cities which you designate shall be your six cities of refuge. 14You will give three cities across the Jordan, and three cities you will give in the land of Canaan, which will be cities of refuge. 15For the Israelites, and for the stranger, and for the foreign sojourner among them # Nu 15:16 will be six cities. These will be for a refuge. Everyone that unintentionally kills any person may flee there.
16If he strikes him with an instrument of iron, so that he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer shall surely be put to death. # Lev 24:17 17If he strikes him with a stone in hand, by which he could die, and he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer shall surely be put to death. 18Or if he strikes him with a weapon of wood in hand, by which he could die, and he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer shall surely be put to death. 19The avenger of blood himself will slay the murderer. When he meets him, he will slay him. # Nu 35:21; Dt 19:6 20But if he pushed him out of hatred, or threw something at him, lying in wait, so he dies, # Ex 21:14; Dt 19:11 21or in hatred struck him with his hand, so he died, he that struck him shall surely be put to death, because he is a murderer. The avenger of blood will slay the murderer when he meets him.
22But if he pushed him suddenly without hatred, or threw anything at him without lying in wait, # Ex 21:13; Nu 35:11 23or used a stone that may cause death, unintentionally throwing it at him, resulting in death, though they were not enemies, and was not trying to harm him, 24then the assembly will judge between the manslayer and the avenger of blood according to these judgments. # Nu 35:12; Jos 20:6 25And the assembly will deliver the manslayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and the assembly will restore him to the city of his refuge where he fled, and he will dwell in it until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil. # Ex 29:7; Lev 4:3
26But if the manslayer will go out at any time beyond the border of the city of his refuge where he fled, 27and the avenger of blood finds him outside the borders of the city of his refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the manslayer, he will not be guilty of blood, 28because the manslayer should have remained in the city of his refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest the manslayer may return to the land of his possession.
29So these things will be for a statute of judgment # Nu 27:11 to you throughout your generations in all your dwelling places.
30Whoever kills a person, the murderer will be put to death by the testimony of witnesses, but one witness will not testify against a person for death. # Dt 19:15; Mt 18:16
31And you will not take a ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he will surely be put to death.
32You will not take a ransom for him who fled to the city of his refuge, that he should come out again to dwell in the land, until the death of the priest.
33So you will not defile the land which you are in, because blood defiles the land, and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of him that shed it. # Ge 9:6 34So do not defile the land # Nu 5:3; Mic 4:11 which you are dwelling in, where I am residing, because I the Lord am residing among the Israelites.
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Numbers 35: MEV
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The Holy Bible, Modern English Version
Copyright © 2024, 2017, 2014 by United Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House. All rights reserved.
Numbers 35
35
The Levites’ Towns
1The Lord spoke to Moses. This was in the Jordan Valley in Moab, near the Jordan River, across from Jericho. He said, 2“Tell the Israelites that they should give some of the cities in their part of the land to the Levites. The Israelites should give these cities and the pastures around them to the Levites. 3The Levites will be able to live in them. And all the cattle and other animals that belong to the Levites will be able to eat from the pastures around these cities. 4How much of your land should you give to the Levites? From the walls of the cities, go out 1500 feet#35:4 1500 feet Literally, “1000 cubits” (444 m). The people probably let their sheep and cattle use this land.—all of that land will belong to the Levites. 5Measure off an area around the city for the Levites. Start at the northeast corner and measure 3000 feet#35:5 3000 feet Literally, “2000 cubits” (1037 m). The Levites probably used this land for gardens and vineyards. to the south. Then from this corner, measure 3000 feet to the west. From there measure 3000 feet to the north and from that corner, 3000 feet to the east. The city will be in the center of this area. 6Six of those cities will be cities of safety. If a person accidentally kills someone, that person can run to those towns for safety. In addition to those six cities, you will also give 42 more cities to the Levites. 7So you will give a total of 48 cities to the Levites. You will also give them the land around those cities. 8The large tribes of Israel will get large pieces of land. The small tribes of Israel will get small pieces of land. So the large tribes will give more cities and the small tribes will give fewer cities to the Levites.”
9Then the Lord said to Moses, 10“Tell the people this: You will cross the Jordan River and go into the land of Canaan. 11You must choose towns to be cities of safety. If someone accidentally kills another person, that person can run to one of those towns for safety. 12That person will be safe from anyone from the dead man’s family who wants to punish the killer until that person is judged in court. 13There will be six cities of safety. 14Three of them will be east of the Jordan River and three of them will be in the land of Canaan, west of the Jordan River. 15These cities will be places of safety for citizens of Israel and for foreigners and travelers. Any of these people will be able to run to one of these cities if they accidentally kill someone.
16“If you use an iron weapon#35:16 iron weapon This shows that the murderer chose a weapon he knew could kill the other person. to kill someone, you are a murderer, and you must die. 17If you use a rock large enough to kill someone and you kill another person, you are a murderer, and you must die. 18If you use a piece of wood large enough to kill someone and you kill another person, you are a murderer, and you must die. 19A member of the dead person’s family#35:19 member of the dead person’s family Literally, “the blood avenger.” Also in verses 20-21, 24, 26-27. can chase you and kill you.
20-21“You might hit someone with your hand or push someone or throw something at them and kill them. If you did that from hate, you are a murderer, and you must be killed. A member of the dead person’s family can chase you and kill you.
22“You might accidentally kill someone, maybe by pushing or by accidentally hitting them with a tool or weapon. 23Perhaps you threw a rock that was large enough to kill, but it hit someone you didn’t see and killed them. You didn’t plan to kill anyone. You didn’t hate the person you killed—it was only an accident. 24If that happens, the community must decide what to do. The court must decide if a member of the dead person’s family can kill you. 25If the community decides to protect you from the dead person’s family, the community must take you back to your city of safety. You must stay there until the official high priest#35:25 official high priest Literally, “the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil.” dies.
26-27“You must never go outside the limits of your city of safety. If you do and if a member of the dead person’s family catches you and kills you, that family member will not be guilty of murder. 28Whoever accidentally killed someone must stay in their city of safety until the high priest dies. After the high priest dies, that person can go back to their own land. 29These rules will be the law forever in all the towns of your people.
30“A killer should be put to death as a murderer only if there are witnesses. No one can be put to death if there is only one witness.
31“A murderer must be put to death. Don’t take money to change the punishment. That murderer must be killed.
32“If a person killed someone and then ran to one of the cities of safety, don’t take money to let that person go home. That person must stay in that city until the high priest dies.
33“Don’t let your land be polluted with innocent blood. If a person murders someone, the only payment for that crime is that the murderer must be killed! There is no other payment that will free the land from that crime. 34I am the Lord. I will be living in your country with the Israelites, so don’t make it unclean with the blood of innocent people.”
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