Numbers 35:31

31 'Moreover, you shall not take ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall surely be put to death.

Numbers 35:31 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 35:31

Moreover, ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a
murderer
Though he would give all his wealth and substance, all his estates and possessions, and whatever he is worth in the world; for all that a man has he will give for his life; but these are not to be taken, nor anything, and everything his friends may offer for him; all is to be rejected, the life of such a man is not to be saved on any consideration:

which is guilty of death;
as he is who kills a man willingly and purposely; but one may be guilty of killing another, and yet not be deserving of death, when it is done ignorantly and accidentally with respect to him, for which reason this clause is added: but he shall be surely put to death; by the order of the civil magistrate; and if this is not done either through want of evidence, or the fault of the judge, or the criminal clemency of the chief governor, God sooner or later will take vengeance on such a person.

Numbers 35:31 In-Context

29 'These things shall be for a statutory ordinance to you throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
30 'If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death at the evidence of witnesses, but no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness.
31 'Moreover, you shall not take ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall surely be put to death.
32 'You shall not take ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge, that he may return to live in the land before the death of the priest.
33 'So you shall not pollute the land in which you are; for blood pollutes the land and no expiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it.
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