Numbers 35:13-34 — Legacy Standard Bible

¹³‘And the cities which you are to give shall be your six cities of refuge. ¹⁴‘You ^ashall give three cities across the Jordan and three cities ¹in the land of Canaan; they are to be cities of refuge. ¹⁵‘These six cities shall be for refuge for the sons of Israel and for the sojourner and for the foreign resident among them; that anyone who strikes a person down ^aunintentionally may flee there.

¹⁶‘^aBut if he struck him down with an iron object, so that he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. ¹⁷‘And if he struck him down with a stone in the hand, by which he would die, and as a result he died, he is a murderer; the murderer ^ashall surely be put to death. ¹⁸‘Or if he struck him with a wooden object in the hand, by which he would die, and as a result he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. ¹⁹‘The blood avenger himself shall put the murderer to death; he shall put him to death when he meets him. ²⁰‘^aAnd if he pushed him of hatred or threw something at him ^blying in wait and as a result he died, ²¹or if he struck him down with his hand in enmity, and as a result he died, the one who struck him shall surely be put to death; he is a murderer; the blood avenger shall put the murderer to death when he meets him.

²²‘^aBut if he pushed him suddenly without enmity or threw something at him without lying in wait, ²³or with any stone—by which one might die, yet without seeing—and it fell upon him, and he died, but he was not his enemy nor seeking his injury, ²⁴then ^athe congregation shall judge between the ¹slayer and the blood avenger according to these legal judgments. ²⁵‘And the congregation shall deliver the manslayer from the hand of the blood avenger, and the congregation shall restore him to his city of refuge to which he fled; and he shall live in it until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil. ²⁶‘But if the manslayer at any time goes beyond the border of his city of refuge to which he may flee, ²⁷and the blood avenger finds him outside the border of his city of refuge, and the blood avenger kills the manslayer, he will not be guilty of blood ²⁸because 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 manslayer shall return to the land of his possession.

²⁹‘And these things shall be for a ^astatutory judgment to you throughout your generations in all your places of habitation.

³⁰‘^aIf anyone strikes down a person, the murderer shall be put to death at the mouth of witnesses, but ^bno person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness. ³¹‘Moreover, you shall not take ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall surely be put to death. ³²‘And you shall not take ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge, that he may return to live in the land ¹before the death of the priest. ³³‘^aSo you shall not pollute the land in which you are; for blood pollutes the land, and no propitiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed on it, except ^bby the blood of him who shed it. ³⁴‘And you shall not ^adefile the land in which you live, in the midst of which ^bI dwell; for I Yahweh am dwelling in the midst of the sons of Israel.’”