Numbers 35

Cities for the Levites

1The LORD spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying, 2“Command the Israelites to give to the Levites from the inheritance of their possession cities to live in, and give the Levites pasturelands around the cities. 3The cities shall be for them to live in, and their pasturelands shall be for their livestock, their possessions, and all their animals. 4The pasturelands of the cities that you give the Levites shall extend from the city wall outward one thousand cubits all around. 5Outside the city you shall measure two thousand cubits on the east side, two thousand on the south side, two thousand on the west side, and two thousand on the north side, with the city in the middle. This shall be for them as pasturelands for the cities.

6The cities that you give the Levites shall include six cities of refuge, which you shall provide so that a manslayer may flee there; in addition to these you shall give forty-two cities. 7All the cities that you give the Levites shall be forty-eight cities, together with their pasturelands. 8As for the cities you give from the possession of the Israelites, from the larger tribe you shall take more, and from the smaller tribe you shall take fewer. Each tribe shall give some of its cities to the Levites in proportion to the inheritance it receives.”

Cities of Refuge

9The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 10“Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 11you shall designate cities for yourselves to be cities of refuge, so that a manslayer who kills a person unintentionally may flee there. 12The cities shall be for you as refuge from the avenger, so that the manslayer may not die until standing before the congregation for judgment. 13The cities that you give shall be six cities of refuge for you. 14You shall give three cities beyond the Jordan and three cities in the land of Canaan; they shall be cities of refuge. 15These six cities shall be for refuge for the Israelites, the resident alien, and the sojourner among them, so that anyone who kills a person unintentionally may flee there.

Murder and Manslaughter Distinguished

16“But if someone strikes another with an iron object so that the person dies, that one is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. 17If someone strikes another with a stone in the hand capable of causing death, and the person dies, that one is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. 18Or if someone strikes another with a wooden object in the hand capable of causing death, and the person dies, that one is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. 19The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death; when meeting the murderer, the avenger may put that person to death.

20If someone pushes another from hatred or throws something at another while lying in wait, so that the person dies, 21or in hostility strikes another with the hand so that the person dies, the one who struck shall surely be put to death; that one is a murderer. The avenger of blood may put the murderer to death when meeting that person.

22But if someone suddenly pushes another without hostility, or throws any object without lying in wait, 23or without seeing the person drops any stone capable of causing death, and the person dies, though the killer was not an enemy and did not seek the person’s harm, 24then the congregation shall judge between the killer and the avenger of blood according to these ordinances. 25The congregation shall rescue the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood and return the manslayer to the city of refuge to which that person fled. The manslayer shall live there until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil.

Remaining Within the City of Refuge

26But if the manslayer at any time goes beyond the boundary of the city of refuge to which the person fled, 27and the avenger of blood finds the person outside the boundary of the city of refuge and kills the manslayer, the avenger of blood shall not be guilty of bloodshed, 28because the manslayer should have remained in the city of refuge until the death of the high priest. After the death of the high priest, the manslayer may return to the land of the possession. 29These things shall be for you a statute of justice throughout your generations in all your dwelling places.

Blood Must Not Pollute the Land

30“Whoever kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the testimony of witnesses, but one witness shall not testify against a person so that the person dies. 31You shall accept no ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death; that person shall surely be put to death. 32You shall accept no ransom for one who has fled to a city of refuge to allow that person to return and live in the land before the death of the priest.

33You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood shed upon it except by the blood of the one who shed it. 34You shall not defile the land in which you live, in whose midst I dwell, for I, the LORD, dwell in the midst of the Israelites.”