Numbers 35 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

Cities for the Levites

Num 35:1The LORD spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying,

Num 35:2“Command the people of Israel to give to the Levites some of the inheritance of their possession as cities for them to dwell in. And you shall give to the Levites pasturelands around the cities.

Num 35:3

Num 35:3The cities shall be theirs to dwell in, and their pasturelands shall be for their cattle and for their livestock and for all their beasts.

Num 35:4

Num 35:4The pasturelands of the cities, which you shall give to the Levites, shall reach from the wall of the city outward a thousand cubits[fn] all around.

Num 35:5

Num 35:5And 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, the city being in the middle. This shall belong to them as pastureland for their cities.

Num 35:6

Num 35:6“The cities that you give to the Levites shall be the six cities of refuge, where you shall permit the manslayer to flee, and in addition to them you shall give forty-two cities.

Num 35:7

Num 35:7All the cities that you give to the Levites shall be forty-eight, with their pasturelands.

Num 35:8

Num 35:8And as for the cities that you shall give from the possession of the people of Israel, from the larger tribes you shall take many, and from the smaller tribes you shall take few; each, in proportion to the inheritance that it inherits, shall give of its cities to the Levites.”

Cities of Refuge

(Deu 19:1–13; Jos 20:1–9 )

Num 35:9

Num 35:9And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

Num 35:10

Num 35:10“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan,

Num 35:11

Num 35:11then you shall select cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the manslayer who kills any person without intent may flee there.

Num 35:12

Num 35:12The cities shall be for you a refuge from the avenger, that the manslayer may not die until he stands before the congregation for judgment.

Num 35:13

Num 35:13And the cities that you give shall be your six cities of refuge.

Num 35:14

Num 35:14You shall give three cities beyond the Jordan, and three cities in the land of Canaan, to be cities of refuge.

Num 35:15

Num 35:15These six cities shall be for refuge for the people of Israel, and for the stranger and for the sojourner among them, that anyone who kills any person without intent may flee there.

Num 35:16

Num 35:16“But if he struck him down with an iron object, so that he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death.

Num 35:17

Num 35:17And if he struck him down with a stone tool that could cause death, and he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death.

Num 35:18

Num 35:18Or if he struck him down with a wooden tool that could cause death, and he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death.

Num 35:19

Num 35:19The avenger of blood shall himself put the murderer to death; when he meets him, he shall put him to death.

Num 35:20

Num 35:20And if he pushed him out of hatred or hurled something at him, lying in wait, so that he died,

Num 35:21

Num 35:21or in enmity struck him down with his hand, so that he died, then he who struck the blow shall be put to death. He is a murderer. The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when he meets him.

Num 35:22

Num 35:22“But if he pushed him suddenly without enmity, or hurled anything on him without lying in wait

Num 35:23

Num 35:23or used a stone that could cause death, and without seeing him dropped it on him, so that he died, though he was not his enemy and did not seek his harm,

Num 35:24

Num 35:24then the congregation shall judge between the manslayer and the avenger of blood, in accordance with these rules.

Num 35:25

Num 35:25And the congregation shall rescue the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to his city of refuge to which he had fled, and he shall live in it until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil.

Num 35:26

Num 35:26But if the manslayer shall at any time go beyond the boundaries of his city of refuge to which he fled,

Num 35:27

Num 35:27and the avenger of blood finds him outside the boundaries of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the manslayer, he shall not be guilty of blood.

Num 35:28

Num 35:28For he must remain in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest, but after the death of the high priest the manslayer may return to the land of his possession.

Num 35:29

Num 35:29And these things shall be for a statute and rule for you throughout your generations in all your dwelling places.

Num 35:30

Num 35:30“If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the evidence of witnesses. But no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness.

Num 35:31

Num 35:31Moreover, you shall accept no ransom for the life of a murderer, who is guilty of death, but he shall be put to death.

Num 35:32

Num 35:32And you shall accept no ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge, that he may return to dwell in the land before the death of the high priest.

Num 35:33

Num 35:33You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it.

Num 35:34

Num 35:34You shall not defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which I dwell, for I the LORD dwell in the midst of the people of Israel.”

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ESV Footnotes

(35:4)

A cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters

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