AB - Numbers - 35

35:1  And the Lord spoke to Moses to the west of Moab by the Jordan near Jericho, saying,

35:2  Give orders to the children of Israel, and they shall give to the Levites cities to dwell in from the lot of their possession, and they shall give to the Levites the suburbs of the cities round about them.

35:3  And the cities shall be for them to dwell in, and their enclosures shall be for their cattle and all their beasts.

35:4  And the suburbs of the cities which you shall give to the Levites, shall be from the wall of the city and outwards two thousand cubits round about.

35:5  And you shall measure outside the city on the east side two thousand cubits, and on the south side two thousand cubits, and on the west side two thousand cubits, and on the north side two thousand cubits; and your city shall be in the midst of this, and the suburbs of the cities as described.

35:6  And you shall give the cities to the Levites, the six cities of refuge which you shall give for the manslayer to flee there, and in addition to these, forty-two cities.

35:7  You shall give to the Levites in all forty-eight cities, them and their suburbs.

35:8  And as for the cities which you shall give out of the possession of the children of Israel, from those that have much you shall give much, and from those that have less you shall give less: they shall give of their cities to the Levites each one according to his inheritance which they shall inherit.

35:9  And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

35:10  Speak to the children of Israel, and you shall say to them, You are to cross over the Jordan into the land of Canaan.

35:11  And you shall appoint to yourselves cities: they shall be to you cities of refuge for the manslayer to flee to, everyone who has killed another unintentionally.

35:12  And the cities shall be to you places of refuge from the avenger of blood, and the manslayer shall not die until he stands before the congregation for judgment.

35:13  And the cities which you shall assign, even the six cities, shall be places of refuge for you.

35:14  You shall assign three cities on the other side of the Jordan, and you shall assign three cities in the land of Canaan.

35:15  It shall be a place of refuge for the children of Israel, and for the stranger, and for him that sojourns among you; these cities shall be for a place of refuge, for everyone to flee there who has killed a man unintentionally.

35:16  And if he should strike him with an iron instrument, and the man should die, he is a murderer; let the murderer by all means be put to death.

35:17  And if he should strike him with a stone thrown from his hand, whereby a man may die, and he thus dies, he is a murderer; let the murderer by all means be put to death.

35:18  And if he should stike him with an instrument of wood from his hand, whereby he may die, and he thus dies, he is a murderer; let the murderer by all means be put to death.

35:19  The avenger of blood himself shall slay the murderer: whenever he shall meet him, he shall put him to death.

35:20  And if he should thrust him, out of hatred, or cast anything upon him from an ambush, and the man should die,

35:21  or if he has stricken him with his hand through anger, and the man should die, let the man that struck him be put to death by all means, he is a murderer: let the murderer by all means be put to death; the avenger of blood shall slay the murderer when he meets him.

35:22  But if he should thrust him suddenly, not through enmity, or cast anything upon him, not from an ambush,

35:23  or strike him with any stone, whereby a man may die, unawares, and it should fall upon him, and he should die, but he was not his enemy, nor sought to hurt him;

35:24  then the assembly shall judge between the smiter and the avenger of blood, according to these judgments.

35:25  And the congregation shall rescue the manslayer from the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to his city of refuge, where he fled for refuge; and he shall dwell there till the death of the high priest, whom they anointed with the holy oil.

35:26  But if the manslayer should in any way go out beyond the bounds of the city where he fled for refuge,

35:27  and the avenger of blood should find him outside the bounds of the city of his refuge, and the avenger of blood should kill the manslayer, he is not guilty.

35:28  For he ought to have remained in the city of refuge till the high priest died; and after the death of the high priest the manslayer shall return to the land of his possession.

35:29  And these things shall be to you for an ordinance of judgment throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

35:30  Whoever kills a man, you shall slay the murderer on the testimony of witnesses; and one witness shall not testify against a soul that he should die.

35:31  And you shall not accept ransoms for life from a murderer who is worthy of death, for he shall be surely put to death.

35:32  You shall not accept a ransom to excuse his fleeing to the city of refuge, so that he should again dwell in the land, until the death of the high priest.

35:33  So shall you not pollute with murder the land in which you dwell; for this blood pollutes the land, and the land shall not be purged from the blood shed upon it, but by the blood of him that shed it.

35:34  And you shall not defile the land on which you dwell, on which I dwell in the midst of you; for I am the Lord dwelling in the midst of the children of Israel.