Numbers 34-36

New English Translation

The Southern Border of the Land

34 ^[a] Then the Lord spoke to Moses: ² “Give these instructions^[b] to the Israelites, and tell them: ‘When you enter Canaan, the land that has been assigned to you as an inheritance,^[c] the land of Canaan with its borders, ³ your southern border^[d] will extend from the wilderness of Zin along the Edomite border, and your southern border will run eastward to the extremity of the Salt Sea, ⁴ and then the border will turn from the south to the Scorpion Ascent,^[e] continue to Zin, and then its direction^[f] will be from the south to Kadesh Barnea. Then it will go to Hazar Addar and pass over to Azmon. ⁵ There the border will turn from Azmon to the Stream of Egypt, and then its direction is to the sea.^[g]

The Western Border of the Land

⁶ “‘And for a western border^[h] you will have the Great Sea.^[i] This will be your western border.

The Northern Border of the Land

⁷ “‘And this will be your northern border: From the Great Sea you will draw a line to Mount Hor; ⁸ from Mount Hor you will draw a line to Lebo Hamath,^[j] and the direction of the border will be to Zedad. ⁹ The border will continue to Ziphron, and its direction will be to Hazar Enan. This will be your northern border.

The Eastern Border of the Land

¹⁰ “‘For your eastern border you will draw a line from Hazar Enan to Shepham. ¹¹ The border will run down from Shepham to Riblah, on the east side of Ain, and the border will descend and reach the eastern side of the Sea of Kinnereth.^{[k] 12} Then the border will continue down the Jordan River^[l] and its direction will be to the Salt Sea. This will be your land by its borders that surround it.’”

¹³ Then Moses commanded the Israelites: “This is the land that you will inherit by lot, which the Lord has commanded to be given^[m] to the nine-and-a-half tribes, ¹⁴ because the tribe of the Reubenites by their families,^[n] the tribe of the Gadites by their families, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance. ¹⁵ The two-and-a-half tribes have received their inheritance on this side of the Jordan, east of Jericho, toward the sunrise.”

Appointed Officials

¹⁶ The Lord said to Moses: ¹⁷ “These are the names of the men who are to allocate the land to you as an inheritance:^[o] Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun. ¹⁸ You must take one leader from every^[p] tribe to assist in allocating the land as an inheritance.^{[q] 19} These are the names of the men: from the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh; ²⁰ from the tribe of the Simeonites, Shemuel son of Ammihud; ²¹ from the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad son of Kislon; ²² and from the tribe of the Danites, a leader, Bukki son of Jogli. ²³ From the Josephites, Hanniel son of Ephod, a leader from the tribe of Manasseh; ²⁴ from the tribe of the Ephraimites, a leader, Kemuel son of Shiphtan; ²⁵ from the tribe of the Zebulunites, a leader, Elizaphan son of Parnach; ²⁶ from the tribe of the Issacharites, a leader, Paltiel son of Azzan; ²⁷ from the tribe of the Asherites, a leader, Ahihud son of Shelomi; ²⁸ and from the tribe of the Naphtalites, a leader, Pedahel son of Ammihud.” ²⁹ These are the ones whom the Lord commanded to divide up the inheritance among the Israelites in the land of Canaan.

The Levitical Cities

35 ^[r] Then the Lord spoke to Moses in the rift valley plains^[s] of Moab along the Jordan near Jericho. He said: ² “Instruct the Israelites to give^[t] the Levites towns to live in from the inheritance the Israelites^[u] will possess. You must also give the Levites grazing land around the towns. ³ Thus they will have towns in which to live, and their grazing lands will be for their cattle, for their possessions, and for all their animals. ⁴ The grazing lands around the towns that you will give to the Levites must extend to a distance of 500 yards^[v] from the town wall.

⁵ “You must measure^[w] from outside the wall of the town on the east 1,000 yards,^[x] and on the south side 1,000 yards, and on the west side 1,000 yards, and on the north side 1,000 yards, with the town in the middle.^[y] This territory must belong to them as grazing land for the towns. ⁶ Now from these towns that you will give to the Levites you must select six towns of refuge to which a person who has killed someone may flee.^[z] And you must give them forty-two other towns.

⁷ “So the total of the towns you will give the Levites is forty-eight. You must give these together with their grazing lands. ⁸ The towns you will give must be from the possession of the Israelites. From the larger tribes you must give more; and from the smaller tribes fewer. Each must contribute some of its own towns to the Levites in proportion to the inheritance allocated to each.

The Cities of Refuge

⁹ Then the Lord spoke to Moses: ¹⁰ “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When you cross over the Jordan River^[aa] into the land of Canaan, ¹¹ you must then designate some towns as towns of refuge for you, to which a person who has killed someone unintentionally may flee. ¹² And they must stand as your towns of refuge from the avenger in order that the killer may not die until he has stood trial before the community. ¹³ These towns that you must give shall be your six towns for refuge.

¹⁴ “‘You must give three towns on this side of the Jordan, and you must give three towns in the land of Canaan; they must be towns of refuge. ¹⁵ These six towns will be places of refuge for the Israelites, and for the resident foreigner, and for the settler among them, so that anyone who kills any person accidentally may flee there.

¹⁶ “‘But if he hits someone with an iron tool so that he dies,^[ab] he is a murderer. The murderer must surely be put to death. ¹⁷ If he strikes him by throwing a stone large enough that he could die, and he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer must surely be put to death. ¹⁸ Or if he strikes him with a wooden hand weapon so that he could die, and he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer must surely be put to death. ¹⁹ The avenger^[ac] of blood himself must kill the murderer; when he meets him, he must kill him.

²⁰ “‘But if he strikes him out of hatred or throws something at him intentionally^[ad] so that he dies, ²¹ or with enmity he strikes him with his hand and he dies, the one who struck him must surely be put to death, for he is a murderer. The avenger of blood must kill the murderer when he meets him.

²² “But if he strikes him suddenly, without enmity, or throws anything at him unintentionally, ²³ or with any stone large enough that a man could die, without seeing him, and throws it at him, and he dies, even though he was not his enemy nor sought his harm, ²⁴ then the community must judge between the slayer and the avenger of blood according to these decisions. ²⁵ The community must deliver the slayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and the community must restore him to the town of refuge to which he fled, and he must live there^[ae] until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the consecrated oil. ²⁶ But if the slayer at any time goes outside the boundary of the town to which he had fled, ²⁷ and the avenger of blood finds him outside the borders of the town of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the slayer, he will not be guilty of blood, ²⁸ because the slayer^[af] should have stayed in his town of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest, the slayer may return to the land of his possessions. ²⁹ So these things must be a statutory ordinance^[ag] for you throughout your generations, in all the places where you live.

³⁰ “Whoever kills any person, the murderer must be put to death by the testimony^[ah] of witnesses, but one witness cannot^[ai] testify against any person to cause him to be put to death. ³¹ Moreover, you must not accept a ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death; he must surely be put to death. ³² And you must not accept a ransom for anyone who has fled to a town of refuge, to allow him to return home and live on his own land before the death of the high priest.^[aj]

³³ “‘You must not pollute the land where you live, for blood defiles the land, and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed there, except by the blood of the person who shed it. ³⁴ Therefore do not defile the land that you will inhabit, in which I live, for I the Lord live among the Israelites.’”

Women and Land Inheritance

36 Then the heads of the family groups^[ak] of the Gileadites, the descendant of Machir, the descendant of Manasseh, who were from the Josephite families, approached and spoke before Moses^[al] and the leaders who were the heads of the Israelite families.^{[am] 2} They said, “The Lord commanded my lord to give^[an] the land as an inheritance by lot to the Israelites; and my lord was commanded by the Lord to give the inheritance of our brother Zelophehad to his daughters. ³ Now if they should be married to one of the men^[ao] from another Israelite tribe, their inheritance would be taken from the inheritance of our fathers and added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry.^[ap] As a result, it will be taken from the lot of our inheritance. ⁴ And when the Jubilee of the Israelites is to take place,^[aq] their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry. So their inheritance will be taken away from the inheritance of our ancestral tribe.”^[ar]

Moses’ Decision

⁵ Then Moses gave a ruling^[as] to the Israelites by the word^[at] of the Lord: “What the tribe of the Josephites is saying is right. ⁶ This is what^[au] the Lord has commanded for Zelophehad’s daughters: ‘Let them marry^[av] whomever they think best,^[aw] only they must marry within the family of their father’s tribe. ⁷ In this way the inheritance of the Israelites will not be transferred^[ax] from tribe to tribe. But every one of the Israelites must retain the ancestral heritage. ⁸ And every daughter who possesses an inheritance from any of the tribes of the Israelites must become the wife of a man from any family in her father’s tribe, so that every Israelite^[ay] may retain the inheritance of his fathers. ⁹ No inheritance may pass from tribe to tribe. But every one of the tribes of the Israelites must retain its inheritance.’”

¹⁰ As the Lord had commanded Moses, so the daughters of Zelophehad did. ¹¹ For the daughters of Zelophehad—Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah—were married to the sons of their uncles.^{[az] 12} They were married into the families of the Manassehites, the descendants of Joseph, and their inheritance remained in the tribe of their father’s family.

¹³ These are the commandments and the decisions that the Lord commanded the Israelites through the authority^[ba] of Moses, in the rift valley plains^[bb] by Moab along the Jordan River^[bc] opposite Jericho.