The Fourth Book of Moses: Numbers

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- Chapter 35 -

(Joshua 21:1–45; 1 Chronicles 6:54–81)

Yahweh told this to Moses while the Israelites were on the plain in Moab near the Jordan River, across from Jericho,

“Tell the Israelite people that from the land that they will receive, they must give to the descendants of Levi some cities in which they can live. They must also give them some land around these cities.

These cities will be for the descendants of Levi to live in, and around the cities will be land for their cattle and flocks of sheep and goats and other animals.

The land that you give them for their animals must extend out for 457 meters from the walls of the cities.

Also measure 920 meters in each direction out from the walls of each city. That additional land will be land for their animals outside the walls of the cities.

Six of the cities that you give to the descendants of Levi will be cities to which people can run to be safe. If someone accidentally kills someone else, the one who killed that person may run to one of those cities to be safe.

You must also give to the descendants of Levi forty-two other cities and the land around those cities for their animals.

The Israelite tribes who have the most people must give them more cities than the tribes who have fewer people give. Each tribe must give some of its cities to the descendants of Levi, but the tribes that have more land must give more cities, and the tribes that have fewer cities will give fewer cities.”

Six Cities of Refuge

(Deuteronomy 4:41–43; Deuteronomy 19:1–14; Joshua 20:1–9)

Yahweh also said to Moses,

“Tell this to the Israelite people, ’When you cross the Jordan River and enter the region of Canaan,

you must choose some cities to which people can run to be safe. If someone kills another person, the one who killed that person may run to one of those cities and be safe.

One of the relatives of the person who was killed may think he must avenge his relative’s death by killing the murderer. But in that city, the killer will be safe because the people in that city would kill those relatives if they tried to get revenge there. The man who killed someone accidentally must be put on trial in a court.

You must set apart six cities to be cities to which someone who killed another person accidentally may run and be safe.

There must be three of these cities on the east side of the Jordan River and three on the west side, in the region of Canaan.

Those six cities will be cities where Israelite people may run and be safe, and where foreigners and other people who are living among you can also run and be safe. Any of those people who accidentally kills someone may run to one of these cities and be safe there.

But you must consider that anyone who kills another person

with an iron weapon or with a big rock or with a piece of wood, is a murderer,

and the one who killed the other person must be executed.

A relative of the person who was murdered must be the one who executes the murderer as soon as he finds him.

If someone shoves another person over a cliff or throws something at another person

or hits that person with his hand and causes that person to die, if he did it because he hated that person, then you must consider that he is a murderer, and must be executed. A relative of the person who was killed must be the one who executes the murderer as soon as he finds him.

But someone might accidentally shove someone else, or he might accidentally throw something at another person and hit him, but not because he hates that person.

Or he might drop a rock on someone that he could not see. There is a law for the one who does that who did not plan to hurt anyone and did not hate the person who was killed.

That law is that the people of that city must decide whether the relative of the dead person has the right to get revenge, or whether the one who killed the other person truly did it accidentally.

If they decide that the killer planned to kill the other person, they must not allow him to stay in their city. But if they decide that it was done accidentally, they must protect the killer from being killed by the dead person’s relative. They must send the killer to one of the cities where he will be safe, and allow him to stay there until the high priest dies. After that, the killer may go back to his home, because the dead person’s relative no longer has the right to get revenge.

But while the high priest is still living, the person who is in that safe city must not leave that city.

If he goes outside the city, and if a relative of the dead person finds him, that relative is permitted to kill that person, and people will not consider that the relative is guilty of murder.

The killer must stay in that city where he will be safe until the high priest dies. He will be safe from revenge after that, because the death of the high priest will be considered to be a sacrifice to atone for that murder. After that, the killer may return to his home.

You must always obey these legal proceedings, wherever you live.

If someone is accused of killing another person, the one who is accused may be executed only if there are people who saw him do it. There must be more than one witness. No one is permitted to be executed if there was only one witness.

If there is a murderer who truly should be executed, do not spare his life by accepting a ransom. He must be executed.

If someone has run to a city where he will be safe, do not allow him to give you money in order that you will permit him to return to his home before the high priest dies.

You must execute people who truly murder others. If you did not do that, you would be causing the people who live in the land to become unacceptable to me. Anyone who deliberately kills an innocent person must be executed.

I am Yahweh, and I live among you Israelites, so do not spoil the land by allowing people to murder others without being punished.’”

(Joshua 21:1–45; 1 Chronicles 6:54–81)

The LORD spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying,

“Command the children of Israel to give to the Levites cities to dwell in out of their inheritance. You shall give pasture lands for the cities around them to the Levites.

They shall have the cities to dwell in. Their pasture lands shall be for their livestock, and for their possessions, and for all their animals.

“The pasture lands of the cities, which you shall give to the Levites, shall be from the wall of the city and outward one thousand cubits(a) around it.

You shall measure outside of the city for the east side two thousand cubits, and for the south side two thousand cubits, and for the west side two thousand cubits, and for the north side two thousand cubits, the city being in the middle. This shall be the pasture lands of their cities.

“The cities which you shall give to the Levites, they shall be the six cities of refuge, which you shall give for the man slayer to flee to. Besides them you shall give forty-two cities.

All the cities which you shall give to the Levites shall be forty-eight cities together with their pasture lands.

Concerning the cities which you shall give of the possession of the children of Israel, from the many you shall take many, and from the few you shall take few. Everyone according to his inheritance which he inherits shall give some of his cities to the Levites.”

Six Cities of Refuge

(Deuteronomy 4:41–43; Deuteronomy 19:1–14; Joshua 20:1–9)

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

“Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘When you pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan,

then you shall appoint for yourselves cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the man slayer who kills any person unwittingly may flee there.

The cities shall be for your refuge from the avenger, that the man slayer not die until he stands before the congregation for judgment.

The cities which you shall give shall be for you six cities of refuge.

You shall give three cities beyond the Jordan, and you shall give three cities in the land of Canaan. They shall be cities of refuge.

These six cities shall be refuge for the children of Israel, for the stranger, and for the foreigner living among them, that everyone who kills any person unwittingly may flee there.

“‘But if he struck him with an instrument of iron, so that he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall surely be put to death.

If he struck him with a stone in the hand, by which a man may die, and he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall surely be put to death.

Or if he struck him with a weapon of wood in the hand, by which a man may die, and he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall surely be put to death.

The avenger of blood shall himself put the murderer to death. When he meets him, he shall put him to death.

If he shoved him out of hatred, or hurled something at him while lying in wait, so that he died,

or in hostility struck him with his hand, so that he died, he who struck him shall surely be put to death. He is a murderer. The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when he meets him.

“‘But if he shoved him suddenly without hostility, or hurled on him anything without lying in wait,

or with any stone, by which a man may die, not seeing him, and cast it on him so that he died, and he was not his enemy and not seeking his harm,

then the congregation shall judge between the striker and the avenger of blood according to these ordinances.

The congregation shall deliver the man slayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to his city of refuge, where he had fled. He shall dwell therein until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil.

“‘But if the man slayer shall at any time go beyond the border of his city of refuge where he flees,

and the avenger of blood finds him outside of the border of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the man slayer, he shall not be guilty of blood,

because he should have remained in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest, the man slayer shall return into the land of his possession.

“‘These things shall be for a statute and ordinance to you throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

“‘Whoever kills any person, the murderer shall be slain based on the testimony of witnesses; but one witness shall not testify alone against any person so that he dies.

“‘Moreover you shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death. He shall surely be put to death.

“‘You shall take no ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge, that he may come again to dwell in the land before the death of the priest.

“‘So you shall not pollute the land where you live; for blood pollutes the land. No atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, but by the blood of him who shed it.

You shall not defile the land which you inhabit, where I dwell; for I, the LORD, dwell among the children of Israel.’”

Footnotes

(a)35:4 A cubit is the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow on a man’s arm, or about 18 inches or 46 centimeters.