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Numbers 35

1Yahweh spoke to Moses on the plains of Moab, beside the Jordan opposite Jericho:

2“Command the sons of Israel to give the Levites towns to live in from their inherited holdings. Give the Levites open land around the towns as well.

3The towns shall be theirs to live in, and their open land shall be for their livestock, possessions, and all their animals.

4The open land around the towns that you give the Levites shall extend a thousand cubits outward from the town wall in every direction.

5Outside the town, measure two thousand cubits on the eastern side, two thousand on the southern side, two thousand on the western side, and two thousand on the northern side, with the town in the middle. This shall be their towns’ open land.

6The towns you give the Levites shall include the six towns of refuge you provide for a killer to flee to, and in addition to them you shall give forty-two towns.

7The total towns you give the Levites shall be forty-eight, together with their open land.

8From the sons of Israel’s holdings, you shall take more towns from a larger holding and fewer from a smaller one. Each shall give some of his towns to the Levites in proportion to the inheritance he receives.”

9Yahweh spoke to Moses:

10“Speak to the sons of Israel and tell them: When you cross the Jordan into Canaan,

11designate towns for yourselves to serve as towns of refuge, where a killer who has struck someone dead unintentionally may flee.

12These towns shall provide you refuge from the avenging relative, so that the killer does not die before standing before the congregation for judgment.

13The towns you provide shall be six towns of refuge for you.

14Provide three towns across the Jordan and three towns in Canaan; they shall be towns of refuge.

15These six towns shall be a refuge for the sons of Israel, for the resident foreigner, and for the settler among them, so that anyone who has struck someone dead unintentionally may flee there.

16“If someone strikes another with an iron implement and the other dies, he is a murderer. The murderer must be put to death.

17If he strikes him with a stone in his hand capable of killing, and he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer must be put to death.

18Or if he strikes him with a wooden implement in his hand capable of killing, and he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer must be put to death.

19The avenging relative for the blood shall put the murderer to death; when he encounters him, he shall put him to death.

20If someone pushes another out of hatred, or deliberately throws something at him and he dies,

21or strikes him with his hand out of hostility and he dies, the one who struck him must be put to death; he is a murderer. The avenging relative for the blood shall put the murderer to death when he encounters him.

22“But if someone pushes another suddenly without hostility, or throws any implement at him without deliberate intent,

23or without seeing drops on him a stone capable of killing, and he dies, though he was not his enemy and did not seek his harm,

24the congregation shall judge between the one who struck and the avenging relative for the blood according to these ordinances.

25The congregation shall rescue the killer from the avenging relative for the blood. The congregation shall return him to the town of refuge to which he fled, and he shall live there until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil.

26“But if the killer goes outside the boundary of the town of refuge to which he fled,

27and the avenging relative for the blood finds him outside the boundary of his town of refuge and kills him, the avenging relative bears no bloodguilt.

28For he must remain in his town of refuge until the high priest’s death. After the high priest’s death, the killer may return to the land of his holding.

29These shall be statutes of judgment for you throughout your generations in all your settlements.

30“Whenever someone has struck another dead, the murderer shall be put to death on the testimony of witnesses. One witness alone may not testify against a person for a death sentence.

31You must not accept a ransom for the life of a murderer condemned to death. He must be put to death.

32You must not accept a ransom for someone who has fled to his town of refuge, allowing him to return to live in the land before the priest’s death.

33You must not pollute the land where you are. Blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for blood shed in it except by the blood of the one who shed it.

34You must not make the land unclean where you live and where I dwell. For I, Yahweh, dwell among the sons of Israel.”

Translation notes 4

35:2–8 — Levite towns and their land. The Levites receive towns and surrounding open land rather than a tribal territory. The stated measurements are a thousand cubits outward from the wall and two thousand on each side with the town in the middle. How the two descriptions fit geometrically is disputed; neither number is changed to create a simple plan.

35:11–25 — Killing and murder. The same Hebrew word can describe a killer before judgment and a murderer in the deliberate cases. English distinguishes those contexts. The avenging relative for the blood is a kinsperson acting for the person killed. A refuge town preserves the accused for judgment; it does not automatically acquit him.

35:25–32 — Limits of refuge. The congregation must judge and protect the unintentional killer. Protection depends on remaining within the refuge town until the high priest dies. The rule withholding bloodguilt from the avenging relative outside that boundary, the witness requirement, and the prohibitions of ransom are all explicit.

35:33–34 — Blood and the land. Bloodshed is described as polluting the land where Yahweh dwells. The text requires the blood of the one who shed it for this atonement; the translation does not replace the stated sanction with a modern compensation system.