Numbers 35

1And Yahweh spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying,

2Command the sons of Israel that they give to the Levites, from the inheritance of their possession, cities to live in; and you shall give to the Levites pasturelands around the cities.

3The cities shall be for them to live in, and their pasturelands shall be for their livestock, for their possessions, and for all their animals.

4And the pasture lands of the cities that you give to the Levites shall be from the wall of the city outward a thousand cubits all around.

5You shall measure outside the city: the east side, two thousand cubits; the south side, two thousand cubits; the west side, two thousand cubits; and the north side, two thousand cubits, with the city in the middle. This shall be for them the pasture lands of the cities.

6And the cities that you give to the Levites shall be the six cities of refuge, which you shall give for the manslayer to flee there; and besides them you shall give forty-two cities.

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

8And the cities that you give from the possession of the sons of Israel—from the many you shall increase, and from the few you shall diminish. Each one, according to his inheritance that they inherit, shall give some of his cities to the Levites.

9And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

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

11then you shall designate cities for yourselves; they shall be cities of refuge for you, and the manslayer who strikes down a person unintentionally shall flee there.

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

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

14You shall appoint three of the cities beyond the Jordan, and three of the cities in the land of Canaan; they shall be cities of refuge.

15These six cities shall be for refuge for the sons of Israel, and for the sojourner 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 tool and he died, he is a murderer; the murderer must surely be put to death.

17Or if he struck him with a stone in the hand, by which one could die, and he died, he is a murderer; the murderer must surely be put to death.

18Or if he struck him with a wooden object in the hand, by which one could die, and he died, he is a murderer; the murderer must surely be put to death.

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

20But if he pushed him in hatred, or threw something at him intentionally, and he died,

21Or if he struck him with his hand in enmity and he died, the one who struck him must surely 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 hostility, or threw any object at him without lying in wait,

23or with any stone by which one could die, without seeing, he dropped it 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 one who struck him and the avenger of blood, according to these ordinances.

25Then the congregation shall rescue the manslayer 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 in it until the death of the high priest, whom he was anointed with the holy oil.

26But if the manslayer does indeed go out beyond the boundary of his city of refuge, to which he fled,

27and the avenger of blood finds him outside the boundary of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the manslayer, he is not guilty of blood.

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

29And these shall be for you a statute of judgment throughout your generations in all your dwelling places.

30Whoever strikes down a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the testimony of witnesses; but one witness shall not testify against a person for death.

31You shall not accept a ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, for he must surely be put to death.

32And you shall not take a ransom for him 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 that was shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it.

34And you shall not defile the land in which you dwell, in the midst of which I dwell, for I, Yahweh, dwell in the midst of the sons of Israel.