Num 35
1
And the Lord spoke to Moses to the west of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, saying,
2
Give orders to the children of Israel, and they shall give to the Levites cities to
dwell in from the Or, lots lot of their possession, and they shall give to the Levites the suburbs of the cities
round about i. e. the Levites them.
3
And the cities shall be for them to dwell in, and their Or, districts, i. e. spaces marked off; Gr. special offerings of land,
q. d. glebe
lands; This latter sense is probably the right one here enclosures shall be for their cattle and all their beasts.
4
And the suburbs of the cities which you shall give to the Levites, shall be from the
wall of the city and outwards two thousand cubits round about.
5
And you shall measure outside the city on the east side two thousand cubits, 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 your city shall be in the midst of this,
and the suburbs of the cities as described.
6
And you shall give the cities to the Levites, the six cities of refuge which you shall
give for the slayer to flee there, and in addition to these, forty-two cities.
7
You shall give to the Levites in all forty-eight cities, them and their suburbs.
8
And as for the cities which you shall give out of the possession of the children of
Israel, from those that have much you shall give much, and from those that have less
you shall give less: they shall give of their cities to the Levites each one according
to his inheritance which they shall inherit.
9
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
10
Speak to the children of Israel, and you shall say to them, You are to cross over
Jordan into the land of Chanaan.
11
And you shall appoint to yourselves cities: they shall be to you cities of refuge
for the slayer to flee to, every one who has Gr. smitten a life killed another unintentionally.
12
And the cities shall be to you places of refuge from Gr. him whom as kinsman represents the blood the avenger of blood, and
the slayer shall not die until he stands before the congregation
for judgement.
13
And the cities which you shall assign, even the six cities, shall be places of refuge
for you.
14
You shall assign three cities on the other side of Jordan, and you shall assign three
cities in the land of Chanaan.
15
It shall be a place of refuge for the children of Israel, and for the stranger, and
for him whom sojourns among you; these cities shall be for a place of refuge, for
every one to flee there who has killed a man unintentionally.
16
And if he should smite him with an iron instrument, and the man should die, he is
a murderer; let the murderer by all means be put to death.
17
And if he should smite him with a stone thrown from his hand, whereby a man may die,
and he thus die, he is a murderer; let the murderer by all means be put to death.
18
And if he should smite him with an instrument of wood from his hand, whereby he may
die, and he thus die, he is a murderer; let the murderer by all means be put to death.
19
The avenger of blood himself shall slay the murderer: whenever he shall meet him he
shall slay him.
20
And if he should thrust him through enmity, or cast any thing upon him from an ambuscade,
and the man should die,
21
or if he have smitten him with his hand through anger, and the man should die, let
the man that smote him be put to death by all means, he is a murderer: let the murderer
by all means be put to death: the avenger of blood shall slay the murderer when he
meets him.
22
But if he should thrust him suddenly, not through enmity, or cast Gr. any vessel or weapon any thing upon him, not from an
ambuscade,
23
or smite him with any stone, whereby a man may die, unawares, and it should fall upon
him, and he should die, but he was not his enemy, nor sought to hurt him;
24
then the assembly shall judge between the smiter and the avenger of blood, according
to these judgements.
25
And the congregation shall rescue the slayer from the avenger of blood, and the congregation
shall restore him to his city of refuge, where he fled for refuge; and he shall dwell
there till the death of the high-priest, whom they anointed with the holy oil.
26
But if the slayer should in any wise go out beyond the bounds of the city where he
fled for refuge,
27
and the avenger of blood should find him without the bounds of the city of his refuge,
and the avenger of blood should kill the slayer, he is not guilty.
28
For Gr. let him remain he ought to have remained in the city of refuge till the high-priest died; and after
the death of the high-priest the slayer shall return to the land of his possession.
29
And these things shall be to you for an ordinance of judgement throughout your generations
in all your dwellings.
30
Whoever Gr. smites a life kills a man, you shall slay the murderer Gr. by witnesses on the testimony of witnesses; and one
witness shall not testify against a soul that
he should die.
31
And you shall not accept ransoms for life from a murderer who is worthy of death,
for he shall be surely put to death.
32
You shall not accept a ransom to excuse his fleeing to the city of refuge, so that
he should again dwell in the land, until the death of the high-priest.
33
So shall you not pollute with murder the land in which you dwell; for this blood pollutes
the land, and the land shall not be purged from the blood shed upon it, but by the
blood of him whom shed it.
34
And you shall not defile the land whereon you dwell, on which I dwell in the midst
of you; for I am the Lord dwelling in the midst of the children of Israel.