Numbers 35

¹The Lord spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho , saying ,

²Command 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 .

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 .

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

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 .

⁶The 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 .

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

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 .

⁹And the Lord spoke to Moses , saying ,

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

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

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 .

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

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

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.

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

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 .

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 .

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

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

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.

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

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 ,

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

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 .

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

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 .

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 .

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

³⁰If 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 .

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

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 .

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.

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 .