Numbers 35
The Message
Cities for Levites and Asylum-Cities
35 1-3 Then God spoke to Moses on the Plains of Moab at Jordan-Jericho: “Command the People of Israel to give the Levites as their part of the total inheritance towns to live in. Make sure there is plenty of pasture around the towns. Then they will be well taken care of with towns to live in and pastures for their cattle, flocks, and other livestock.
4-5 “The pasture surrounding the Levites’ towns is to extend 1,500 feet in each direction from the city wall. The outside borders of the pasture are to measure three thousand feet on each of the four sides—east, south, west, and north—with the town at the center. Each city will be supplied with pasture.
6-8 “Six of these towns that you give the Levites will be asylum-cities to which anyone who accidentally kills another person may flee for asylum. In addition, you will give them forty-two other towns—forty-eight towns in all, together with their pastures. The towns that you give the Levites from the common inheritance of the People of Israel are to be taken in proportion to the size of each tribe—many towns from a tribe that has many, few from a tribe that has few.”
9-15 God spoke to Moses: “Speak to the People of Israel. Tell them, When you cross the River Jordan into the country of Canaan, designate your asylum-cities, towns to which a person who accidentally kills someone can flee for asylum. They will be places of refuge from the avenger so that the alleged murderer won’t be killed until he can appear before the community in court. Provide six asylum-cities. Designate three of the towns to the east side of the Jordan, the other three in Canaan proper—asylum-cities for the People of Israel, for the foreigner, and for any occasional visitors or guests—six asylum-cities to run to for anyone who accidentally kills another.
16 “But if the killer has used an iron object, that’s just plain murder; he’s obviously a murderer and must be put to death.
17 “Or if he has a rock in his hand big enough to kill and the man dies, that’s murder; he’s a murderer and must be put to death.
18 “Or if he’s carrying a wooden club heavy enough to kill and the man dies, that’s murder; he’s a murderer and must be put to death.
19 “In such cases the avenger has a right to kill the murderer when he meets him—he can kill him on the spot.
20-21 “And if out of sheer hatred a man pushes another or from ambush throws something at him and he dies, or angrily hits him with his fist and kills him, that’s murder—he must be put to death. The avenger has a right to kill him when he gets him.
22-27 “If, however, he impulsively pushes someone and there is no history of hard feelings, or he impetuously picks up something and throws it, or he accidentally drops a stone tool—a maul or hammer, say—and it hits and kills someone he didn’t even know was there, and there’s no suspicion that there was bad blood between them, the community is to judge between the killer and the avenger following these guidelines. It’s the task of the community to save the killer from the hand of the avenger—the community is to return him to his asylum-city to which he fled. He must stay there until the death of the High Priest who was anointed with the holy oil. But if the murderer leaves the asylum-city to which he has fled, and the avenger finds him outside the borders of his asylum-city, the avenger has a right to kill the murderer. And he’s not considered guilty of murder.
28 “So it’s important that he stay in his asylum-city until the death of the High Priest. After the death of the High Priest he is free to return to his own place.
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29 “These are the procedures for making judgments from now on, wherever you live.
30 “Anyone who kills another may be executed only on the testimony of eyewitnesses. But no one can be executed on the testimony of only one witness.
31 “Don’t accept bribe money in exchange for the life of a murderer. He’s guilty and deserves the death penalty. Put him to death.
32 “And don’t accept bribe money for anyone who has fled to an asylum-city so as to permit him to go back and live in his own place before the death of the High Priest.
33 “Don’t pollute the land in which you live. Murder pollutes the land. The land can’t be cleaned up of the blood of murder except through the blood of the murderer.
34 “Don’t desecrate the land in which you live. I live here, too—I, God, live in the same neighborhood with the People of Israel.”
Numbers 35
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 35
Cities for the Levites. 1 The Lord spoke to Moses on the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho: 2 (A)Command the Israelites out of the heritage they possess to give the Levites cities to dwell in; you will also give the Levites the pasture lands around the cities. 3 The cities will be for them to dwell in, and the pasture lands will be for their cattle, their flocks, and all their other animals. 4 The pasture lands of the cities to be assigned the Levites shall extend a thousand cubits out from the city walls in every direction. 5 You will measure out two thousand cubits outside the city along the east side, two thousand cubits along the south side, two thousand cubits along the west side, and two thousand cubits along the north side, with the city lying in the center. These will be the pasture lands of their cities.
6 (B)Now these are the cities you will give to the Levites: the six cities of asylum which you must establish for the homicide to run to, and in addition forty-two other cities— 7 a total of forty-eight cities with their pasture lands which you will assign to the Levites. 8 [a]In assigning the cities from what the Israelites possess, take more from a larger group and fewer from a smaller one, so that each will cede cities to the Levites in proportion to the heritage which it receives.
Cities of Asylum. 9 (C)The Lord spoke to Moses: 10 Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you go across the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 11 select for yourselves cities to serve as cities of asylum, where a homicide who has killed someone inadvertently may flee. 12 These cities will serve you as places of asylum from the avenger of blood,[b] so that a homicide will not be put to death until tried before the community. 13 As for the cities you assign, you will have six cities of asylum: 14 you will designate three cities beyond the Jordan, and you will designate three cities in the land of Canaan. These will be cities of asylum. 15 These six cities will serve as places of asylum for the Israelites, and for the resident or transient aliens among them, so that anyone who has killed a person inadvertently may flee there.
Murder and Manslaughter. 16 [c]If someone strikes another with an iron instrument and causes death, that person is a murderer, and the murderer must be put to death.(D) 17 If someone strikes another with a death-dealing stone in the hand and death results, that person is a murderer, and the murderer must be put to death. 18 Or if someone strikes another with a death-dealing club in the hand and death results, that person is a murderer, and the murderer must be put to death. 19 The avenger of blood is the one who will kill the murderer, putting the individual to death on sight.
20 If someone pushes another out of hatred, or throws something from an ambush, and death results,(E) 21 or strikes another with the hand out of enmity and death results, the assailant must be put to death as a murderer. The avenger of blood will kill the murderer on sight.
22 (F)However, if someone pushes another without malice aforethought, or without lying in ambush throws some object at another, 23 or without seeing drops upon another some death-dealing stone and death results, although there was neither enmity nor malice— 24 then the community will judge between the assailant and the avenger of blood in accordance with these norms. 25 The community will deliver the homicide from the avenger of blood and the community will return the homicide to the city of asylum where the latter had fled;(G) and the individual will stay there until the death of the high priest who has been anointed with sacred oil. 26 If the homicide leaves at all the bounds of the city of asylum to which flight had been made, 27 and is found by the avenger of blood beyond the bounds of the city of asylum, and the avenger of blood kills the homicide, the avenger incurs no bloodguilt; 28 for the homicide was required to stay in the city of asylum until the death of the high priest. Only after the death of the high priest may the homicide return to the land of the homicide’s possession.
29 This is the statute for you throughout all your generations, wherever you live, for rendering judgment.
Judgment. 30 Whenever someone kills another, the evidence of witnesses is required to kill the murderer.(H) A single witness does not suffice for putting a person to death.
No Indemnity. 31 You will not accept compensation in place of the life of a murderer who deserves to die, but that person must be put to death. 32 Nor will you accept compensation to allow one who has fled to a city of asylum to return to live in the land before the death of the high priest. 33 You will not pollute the land where you live. For bloodshed pollutes the land, and the land can have no expiation for the blood shed on it except through the blood of the one who shed it. 34 Do not defile the land in which you live and in the midst of which I dwell;(I) for I the Lord dwell in the midst of the Israelites.
Footnotes
- 35:8 This provision was hardly observed in the actual assignment of the levitical cities as narrated in Jos 21.
- 35:12 The avenger of blood: Hebrew, go’el, often translated as “redeemer,” one who, as next of kin to the slain (2 Sm 14:7), and here, as executor of public justice, had the right and duty to take the life of the murderer; cf. Dt 19:6, 12; Jos 20:3, 5, 9.
- 35:16–25 Here, as also in Dt 19:1–13, there is a casuistic development of the original law as stated in Ex 21:12–14.
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.