Numbers 35

1In the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho, Yahweh said to Moses,

2“Command the Israelites to give the Levites cities to live in from the inheritance they will possess. Give the Levites pasturelands around the cities as well.

3The cities will be theirs to live in, and the pasturelands will be for their livestock, their goods, and all their other animals.

4The pasturelands of the cities you give the Levites are to extend a thousand cubits outward from the city wall all around.

5Measure outside the city two thousand cubits on the east side, two thousand cubits on the south side, two thousand cubits on the west side, and two thousand cubits on the north side, with the city in the middle. This will be the pastureland for their cities.

6Among the cities you give the Levites will be the six cities of refuge, which you are to provide so that anyone who has killed someone can flee there. In addition to these, give them forty-two cities.

7In all, you are to give the Levites forty-eight cities, together with their pasturelands.

8As for the cities you give from the property of the Israelites, take many from a tribe that has many and few from a tribe that has few. Each is to give some of its cities to the Levites in proportion to the inheritance it receives.”

9Yahweh said to Moses,

10“Speak to the Israelites and say to them, ‘When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan,

11select cities to be your cities of refuge, so that anyone who kills a person unintentionally may flee there.

12They will be places of refuge for you from the avenger, so that the one who has killed someone does not die before he stands trial before the congregation.

13The cities you provide will be your six cities of refuge.

14Provide three cities on the other side of the Jordan and three cities in the land of Canaan to be cities of refuge.

15These six cities will be a refuge for the Israelites and for the foreigner and the temporary resident among them, so that anyone who kills a person unintentionally may flee there.

16But if someone strikes a person with an iron object so that he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer must be put to death.

17If someone strikes a person with a stone in his hand that could kill, and he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer must be put to death.

18Or if someone strikes a person with a wooden object in his hand that could kill, and he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer must be put to death.

19The avenger of blood himself is to put the murderer to death; when he meets him, he is to put him to death.

20If anyone pushes a person out of hatred, or throws something at him while lying in wait, so that he dies,

21or strikes him with his hand out of hostility, so that he dies, the one who struck him must be put to death; he is a murderer. The avenger of blood is to put the murderer to death when he meets him.

22But if he pushes him suddenly without hostility, or throws any object at him without lying in wait,

23or without seeing him drops on him a stone that could kill, and he dies, though he was not his enemy and was not trying to harm him,

24then the congregation is to judge between the one who struck him and the avenger of blood according to these rulings.

25The congregation is to rescue the killer from the hand of the avenger of blood and return him to the city of refuge to which he fled. He is to live there until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil.

26But if the killer ever goes outside the boundary of the city of refuge to which he fled,

27and the avenger of blood finds him outside the boundary of his city of refuge and kills him, the avenger is not guilty of bloodshed.

28For the killer must stay in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. After the death of the high priest the killer may return to the land he owns.

29These are to be legal statutes for you throughout your generations, wherever you live.

30If anyone kills a person, the murderer is to be put to death on the testimony of witnesses. But no one is to be put to death on the testimony of only one witness.

31Do not accept a ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty and deserves to die. He must be put to death.

32Do not accept a ransom for someone who has fled to his city of refuge, so that he can return and live in his own land before the death of the priest.

33Do not pollute the land where you are. Blood pollutes the land, and atonement cannot be made for the land for the blood shed on it except by the blood of the one who shed it.

34Do not defile the land where you live, where I dwell, for I, Yahweh, dwell among the Israelites.’”