en-v0.1→en-v0.2-dev·#c67d85525c33Contribute to en-v0.2

Numbers 35:1-34 — Cities for the Levites; Cities of Refuge

Num.35.1-34

¹Yahweh spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho, saying, ²Command the children of Israel that from the inheritance of their possession they are to give the Levites cities to live in, and you shall also give the Levites pasturelands around those cities. ³The cities shall be for them to live in, and their pasturelands shall be for their cattle, their property, and all their animals. ⁴The pasturelands of the cities that you give to the Levites shall extend from the wall of the city outward 1,000 cubits all around. ⁵You shall measure outside the city 2,000 cubits on the east side, 2,000 cubits on the south side, 2,000 cubits on the west side, and 2,000 cubits on the north side, with the city in the middle. This shall be their pasturelands for the cities. ⁶And the cities that you give to the Levites shall include the six cities of refuge, which you shall provide so that the killer may flee there; besides them you shall give forty-two cities. ⁷All the cities that you give to the Levites shall be forty-eight cities, together with their pasturelands. ⁸The cities that you give from the possession of the children of Israel shall be apportioned this way: from the larger tribes you shall take more, and from the smaller tribes you shall take fewer. Each one, according to the inheritance he receives, shall give some of his cities to the Levites. ⁹Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁰Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, ¹¹you shall appoint cities for yourselves. They shall be cities of refuge for you, so that a killer who strikes a person unintentionally may flee there. ¹²These cities shall be a refuge for you from the avenger of blood, so that the killer may not die until he stands before the congregation for judgment. ¹³The cities that you provide shall be your six cities of refuge. ¹⁴You shall give three cities beyond the Jordan and three cities in the land of Canaan; they shall be cities of refuge. ¹⁵These six cities shall be a refuge for the children of Israel, for the foreigner, and for the resident among them, so that anyone who kills a person unintentionally may flee there. ¹⁶But if he struck him with an iron implement and he died, he is a killer; the killer must surely be put to death. ¹⁷Or if he struck him with a stone in the hand by which someone could die, and he died, he is a killer; the killer must surely be put to death. ¹⁸Or if he struck him with a hand-held wooden implement by which someone could die, and he died, he is a killer; the killer must surely be put to death. ¹⁹The avenger of blood himself shall put the killer to death; when he meets him, he shall put him to death. ²⁰And if in hatred he pushed him, or threw something at him while lying in wait, and he died, ²¹or in hostility he struck him with his hand and he died, the one who struck him must surely be put to death; he is a killer. The avenger of blood shall put the killer to death when he meets him. ²²But if he pushed him suddenly, without hostility, or threw any object at him without lying in wait, ²³or with any stone by which someone could die, without seeing him, and it fell on him so that he died, though he was not his enemy and was not seeking his harm, ²⁴then the congregation shall judge between the assailant and the avenger of blood according to these ordinances. ²⁵The congregation shall rescue the killer from the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall return him to his city of refuge where he fled, and he shall live there until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil. ²⁶But if the killer ever goes outside the boundary of his city of refuge where he fled, ²⁷and the avenger of blood finds him outside the boundary of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the killer, he shall not be guilty of bloodshed. ²⁸For he must live in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest, and after the death of the high priest the killer may return to the land of his possession. ²⁹These things shall be for you as a statute of judgment throughout your generations in all your dwellings. ³⁰Whoever kills a person, the killer shall be put to death on the testimony of witnesses; but one witness shall not testify against a person so that he dies. ³¹And you shall not accept a ransom for the life of a killer who is guilty of death, for he must surely be put to death. ³²And you shall not accept a ransom from one who has fled to his city of refuge, so that he may return to live in the land before the death of the priest. ³³You shall not pollute the land in which you are, for blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood shed in it except by the blood of the one who shed it. ³⁴You shall not defile the land in which you live, in whose midst I dwell, for I, Yahweh, dwell among the children of Israel.

Translation Notes

4/11/2026

💡 Read the current translation below. If you have suggestions, comment by verse.

📚 Reference Translations

🔬 Exegesis Resources