Numbers
Chapter 35
1 God spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan River near Jericho, saying,
2 Tell the Israelites to give the Levites some of their own cities to live in, along with areas around these cities.
3 They will live in the cities, and the areas around them will be for their cattle, belongings, and all their animals.
4 The areas around the cities that you give to the Levites should extend a thousand cubits from the city wall all around.
5 Measure 2,000 cubits outside the city on the east, south, west, and north; the city will be in the center, and this area will be the city’s outskirts.
6 Give six cities to the Levites as safe places for someone who has killed someone by accident to run to. Also give them forty-two more cities.
7 You will give the Levites forty-eight cities along with the land around them.
8 The cities you give must come from the lands of the Israelites: those with more must give more cities, those with less give fewer. Everyone must give the Levites cities based on their own share of the land.
9 God spoke to Moses, saying,
10 Tell the people of Israel, when you cross the Jordan River into the land of Canaan.
11 Then you will choose cities to be safe places for you; so someone who accidentally kills another can run there for safety.
12 These cities will be your safe places from the avenger, so the person who caused a death won’t die before they face trial before the community.
13 You must provide six cities as safe places from the cities you give.
14 You must give three cities on this side of the Jordan River and three cities in the land of Canaan as safe places.
15 These six cities will be safe places for the people of Israel, for foreigners, and for travelers among them, so anyone who accidentally kills someone can run there for safety.
16 If he hits someone with an iron tool and that person dies, he is a murderer: the murderer must be put to death.
17 If he hits him with a stone that could kill, and he dies, he is a murderer; the murderer must be put to death.
18 If he hits someone with a wooden weapon that could kill, and the person dies, he is a murderer. The murderer must be put to death.
19 The person who wants revenge must kill the killer; when he finds him, he must kill him.
20 If he pushes him out of hate or attacks him on purpose, and he dies;
21 If someone hits another person with hate in their heart and causes death, that attacker must be put to death, because they are a murderer. The one who avenges the killing shall kill the murderer upon meeting them.
22 If he pushed him accidentally without being enemies or threw something at him without planning to hurt him,
23 Or if someone accidentally throws a stone that can kill and hits another person without seeing them, causing death, but was not that person’s enemy or intending to hurt them:
24 Then the group will decide between the person who killed and the one seeking revenge based on these rules.
25 The community will save the person who killed someone from the one who wants to punish with death. They will send him back to the safe city he ran to, and he must stay there until the high priest, who was chosen with holy oil, dies.
26 If the person who killed someone goes outside the city where he found safety, which he ran to;
27 If the person seeking revenge kills the killer outside the safe city, he is not guilty of murder.
28 He should have stayed in the safe city until the chief priest died; after that, the one who killed can go back to his own land.
29 These rules will be laws for you and your descendants wherever you live.
30 Anyone who kills a person, the killer must be put to death based on what witnesses say; but no one should be put to death on the testimony of only one witness.
31 Do not accept any payment to spare the life of a murderer who deserves death; they must be put to death.
32 You must not accept any payment to let someone who ran to a safe city return home before the priest dies.
33 Do not make the land you are in unclean, because blood makes the land unclean. The land cannot be made clean from the blood spilled on it, except by the blood of the one who spilled it.
34 Do not make the land you will live in unclean, where I also live, because I, God, live among the people of Israel.