Numbers 35
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1While Israel was camped beside the Jordan on the plains of Moab across from Jericho, the LORD said to Moses,1The LORD again spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho:
2“Command the people of Israel to give to the Levites from their property certain towns to live in, along with the surrounding pasturelands.2"Command the Israelites to give cities out of their hereditary property for the Levites to live in and pastureland around the cities.
3These towns will be for the Levites to live in, and the surrounding lands will provide pasture for their cattle, flocks, and other livestock.3The cities will be for them to live in, and their pasturelands will be for their herds, flocks, and all their other animals.
4The pastureland assigned to the Levites around these towns will extend 1,500 feet from the town walls in every direction.4The pasturelands of the cities you are to give the Levites will extend from the city wall five hundred yards on every side.
5Measure off 3,000 feet outside the town walls in every direction—east, south, west, north—with the town at the center. This area will serve as the larger pastureland for the towns.5Measure a thousand yards outside the city for the east side, a thousand yards for the south side, a thousand yards for the west side, and a thousand yards for the north side, with the city in the center. This will belong to them as pasturelands for the cities.
6“Six of the towns you give the Levites will be cities of refuge, where a person who has accidentally killed someone can flee for safety. In addition, give them forty-two other towns.6"The cities you give the Levites will include six cities of refuge, which you will provide so that the one who kills someone may flee there; in addition to these, give forty-two other cities.
7In all, forty-eight towns with the surrounding pastureland will be given to the Levites.7The total number of cities you give the Levites will be forty-eight, along with their pasturelands.
8These towns will come from the property of the people of Israel. The larger tribes will give more towns to the Levites, while the smaller tribes will give fewer. Each tribe will give property in proportion to the size of its land.” Cities of Refuge8Of the cities that you give from the Israelites' territory, you should take more from a larger tribe and less from a smaller one. Each tribe is to give some of its cities to the Levites in proportion to the inheritance it receives."
9The LORD said to Moses,9The LORD said to Moses,
10“Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. “When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan,10"Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan,
11designate cities of refuge to which people can flee if they have killed someone accidentally.11designate cities to serve as cities of refuge for you, so that a person who kills someone unintentionally may flee there.
12These cities will be places of protection from a dead person’s relatives who want to avenge the death. The slayer must not be put to death before being tried by the community.12You will have the cities as a refuge from the avenger, so that the one who kills someone will not die until he stands trial before the assembly.
13Designate six cities of refuge for yourselves,13The cities you select will be your six cities of refuge.
14three on the east side of the Jordan River and three on the west in the land of Canaan.14Select three cities across the Jordan and three cities in the land of Canaan to be cities of refuge.
15These cities are for the protection of Israelites, foreigners living among you, and traveling merchants. Anyone who accidentally kills someone may flee there for safety.15These six cities will serve as a refuge for the Israelites and for the alien or temporary resident among them, so that anyone who kills a person unintentionally may flee there.
16“But if someone strikes and kills another person with a piece of iron, it is murder, and the murderer must be executed.16"If anyone strikes a person with an iron object and death results, he is a murderer; the murderer must be put to death.
17Or if someone with a stone in his hand strikes and kills another person, it is murder, and the murderer must be put to death.17If anyone has in his hand a stone capable of causing death and strikes another person and he dies, the murderer must be put to death.
18Or if someone strikes and kills another person with a wooden object, it is murder, and the murderer must be put to death.18If anyone has in his hand a wooden object capable of causing death and strikes another person and he dies, the murderer must be put to death.
19The victim’s nearest relative is responsible for putting the murderer to death. When they meet, the avenger must put the murderer to death.19The avenger of blood himself is to kill the murderer; when he finds him, he is to kill him.
20So if someone hates another person and waits in ambush, then pushes him or throws something at him and he dies, it is murder.20Likewise, if anyone in hatred pushes a person or throws an object at him with malicious intent and he dies,
21Or if someone hates another person and hits him with a fist and he dies, it is murder. In such cases, the avenger must put the murderer to death when they meet.21or if in hostility he strikes him with his hand and he dies, the one who struck him must be put to death; he is a murderer. The avenger of blood is to kill the murderer when he finds him.
22“But suppose someone pushes another person without having shown previous hostility, or throws something that unintentionally hits another person,22"But if anyone suddenly pushes a person without hostility or throws any object at him without malicious intent
23or accidentally drops a huge stone on someone, though they were not enemies, and the person dies.23or without looking drops a stone that could kill a person and he dies, but he was not his enemy and didn't intend to harm him,
24If this should happen, the community must follow these regulations in making a judgment between the slayer and the avenger, the victim’s nearest relative:24the assembly is to judge between the person who kills someone and the avenger of blood according to these ordinances.
25The community must protect the slayer from the avenger and must escort the slayer back to live in the city of refuge to which he fled. There he must remain until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the sacred oil.25The assembly is to protect the one who kills someone from the avenger of blood. Then the assembly will return him to the city of refuge he fled to, and he must live there until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil.
26“But if the slayer ever leaves the limits of the city of refuge,26"If the one who kills someone ever goes outside the border of the city of refuge he fled to,
27and the avenger finds him outside the city and kills him, it will not be considered murder.27and the avenger of blood finds him outside the border of his city of refuge and kills him, the avenger will not be guilty of bloodshed,
28The slayer should have stayed inside the city of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest, the slayer may return to his own property.28for the one who killed a person was supposed to live in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. Only after the death of the high priest may the one who has killed a person return to the land he possesses.
29These are legal requirements for you to observe from generation to generation, wherever you may live.29These instructions will be a statutory ordinance for you throughout your generations wherever you live.
30“All murderers must be put to death, but only if evidence is presented by more than one witness. No one may be put to death on the testimony of only one witness.30"If anyone kills a person, the murderer is to be put to death based on the word of witnesses. But no one is to be put to death based on the testimony of one witness.
31Also, you must never accept a ransom payment for the life of someone judged guilty of murder and subject to execution; murderers must always be put to death.31You are not to accept a ransom for the life of someone who is guilty of murder; he must be put to death.
32And never accept a ransom payment from someone who has fled to a city of refuge, allowing a slayer to return to his property before the death of the high priest.32Neither should you accept a ransom for the person who flees to his city of refuge, allowing him to return and live in the land before the death of the high priest.
33This will ensure that the land where you live will not be polluted, for murder pollutes the land. And no sacrifice except the execution of the murderer can purify the land from murder.33"Do not defile the land where you live, for bloodshed defiles the land, and there can be no atonement for the land because of the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of the person who shed it.
34You must not defile the land where you live, for I live there myself. I am the LORD, who lives among the people of Israel.”34Do not make the land unclean where you live and where I dwell; for I, the LORD, reside among the Israelites."
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission.
Numbers 34
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