# Numbers 35

> Lumin Translation

Source: https://www.lumin.faith/read/numbers/35

Lumin’s own translation, drafted with AI from the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, checked verse by verse against them, and approved by Lumin. Brackets mark verses not found in the earliest manuscripts.

How it was made: https://www.lumin.faith/lumin-translation.md

1. In 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.
3. The cities will be theirs to live in, and the pasturelands will be for their livestock, their goods, and all their other animals.
4. The pasturelands of the cities you give the Levites are to extend a thousand cubits outward from the city wall all around.
5. Measure 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.
6. Among 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.
7. In all, you are to give the Levites forty-eight cities, together with their pasturelands.
8. As 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.”
9. Yahweh said to Moses,
10. “Speak to the Israelites and say to them, ‘When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan,
11. select cities to be your cities of refuge, so that anyone who kills a person unintentionally may flee there.
12. They 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.
13. The cities you provide will be your six cities of refuge.
14. Provide three cities on the other side of the Jordan and three cities in the land of Canaan to be cities of refuge.
15. These 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.
16. But if someone strikes a person with an iron object so that he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer must be put to death.
17. If 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.
18. Or 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.
19. The avenger of blood himself is to put the murderer to death; when he meets him, he is to put him to death.
20. If anyone pushes a person out of hatred, or throws something at him while lying in wait, so that he dies,
21. or 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.
22. But if he pushes him suddenly without hostility, or throws any object at him without lying in wait,
23. or 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,
24. then the congregation is to judge between the one who struck him and the avenger of blood according to these rulings.
25. The 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.
26. But if the killer ever goes outside the boundary of the city of refuge to which he fled,
27. and the avenger of blood finds him outside the boundary of his city of refuge and kills him, the avenger is not guilty of bloodshed.
28. For 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.
29. These are to be legal statutes for you throughout your generations, wherever you live.
30. If 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.
31. Do not accept a ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty and deserves to die. He must be put to death.
32. Do 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.
33. Do 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.
34. Do not defile the land where you live, where I dwell, for I, Yahweh, dwell among the Israelites.’”

## Nearby chapters

[Numbers 34](https://www.lumin.faith/read/numbers/34.md)
[Numbers 36](https://www.lumin.faith/read/numbers/36.md)

Ask: https://www.lumin.faith/ask.md
Bible Coach: https://www.lumin.faith/bible-coach.md