Numbers 35:6-34

Cities of Refuge

6 "The cities which you shall give to the Levites shall be the ¹six cities of refuge, which you shall give for the manslayer to flee to; and in addition to them you shall give forty-two * cities.

7 "All the cities which you shall give to the Levites shall be ²forty-eight * cities, together with their pasture lands.

8 "³As for the cities which you shall give from the possession of the sons of Israel, you shall take more from the larger and you shall take less from the smaller; each shall give some of his cities to the Levites in proportion to his possession which he inherits."

9 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

10 "⁴Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, 'When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan,

11 ⁵then you shall select for yourselves cities to be your ⁶cities of refuge, that the manslayer who has killed any person ⁷unintentionally may flee there.

12 '⁸The cities shall be to you as a refuge from the avenger, so that the manslayer will not die until he stands before the congregation for trial.

13 'The cities which you are to give shall be your six cities of refuge.

14 'You ⁹shall give three cities across * the Jordan and three cities in the land of Canaan; they are to be cities of refuge.

15 'These six cities shall be for refuge for the sons of Israel, and for the alien and for the sojourner among them; that anyone who kills a person ¹⁰unintentionally may flee there.

16 '¹¹But if he struck him down with an iron object, so that he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death.

17 'If he struck him down with a stone in the hand, by which he will die, and as a result he died, he is a murderer; the murderer ¹²shall surely be put to death.

18 'Or if he struck him with a wooden object in the hand, by which he might die, and as a result he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death.

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

20 '¹³If he pushed him of hatred, or threw something at him ¹⁴lying in wait and as a result he died,

21 or if he struck him down with his hand in enmity, and as a result he died, the one who struck him shall surely be put to death, he is a murderer; the blood avenger shall put the murderer to death when he meets him.

22 '¹⁵But if he pushed him suddenly without enmity, or threw something * at him without lying in wait,

23 or with any deadly * object of stone, and without seeing it dropped on him so that he died, while he was not his enemy nor seeking his injury,

24 then ¹⁶the congregation shall judge between the slayer and the blood avenger according to these ordinances.

25 'The congregation shall deliver the manslayer from the hand of the blood avenger, and the congregation shall restore him to his city of refuge to which he fled; and he shall live in it until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil.

26 'But if the manslayer at any time goes beyond the border of his city of refuge to which he may flee,

27 and the blood avenger finds him outside * the border of his city of refuge, and the blood avenger kills the manslayer, he will not be guilty of blood

28 because he should have remained in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest the manslayer shall return to the land of his possession.

29 'These things shall be for a ¹⁷statutory ordinance to you throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

30 '¹⁸If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death at the evidence of witnesses, but ¹⁹no 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 '²⁰So 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 * ²¹by the blood of him who shed it.

34 'You shall not ²²defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which ²³I dwell; for I the LORD am dwelling in the midst of the sons of Israel.' "

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Numbers 35:6-34 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 35

Though the tribe of Levi had no part in the division of the land, yet cities out of the several tribes are here ordered to be given them to dwell in, to the number of forty eight, Nu 35:1-8, six of which were to be cities of refuge, Nu 35:9-15, but not for wilful murderers, in whatsoever way they might kill a man, Nu 35:16-21, but for such who had killed a man unawares, Nu 35:22-24, and several rules are given relating to such persons, Nu 35:25-29, but no satisfaction was to be taken in case of murder, nor to excuse a person's return to his own house before the death of the high priest, who had fled to a city of refuge, that so the land might not be defiled, Nu 35:30-34.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 23

1. Joshua 20:7-9
2. Joshua 21:41
3. Leviticus 25:32-34; Numbers 26:54; Numbers 33:54; Joshua 21:1-42
4. Joshua 20:1-9
5. Deuteronomy 19:1-13
6. Joshua 20:2
7. Exodus 21:13; Leviticus 4:2f, 22; Numbers 35:22-25
8. Deuteronomy 19:4-6; Joshua 20:2, 3
9. Deuteronomy 4:41
10. Numbers 35:11
11. Exodus 21:12, 14; Leviticus 24:17
12. Numbers 35:31
13. Genesis 4:8; 2 Samuel 3:27; 2 Samuel 20:10
14. Exodus 21:14; Deuteronomy 19:11
15. Numbers 35:11
16. Joshua 20:6
17. Numbers 27:11
18. Numbers 35:16
19. Deuteronomy 17:6; Deuteronomy 19:15; Matthew 18:16; John 7:51; John 8:17, 18
20. Deuteronomy 21:7, 8; Psalms 106:38
21. Genesis 9:6
22. Leviticus 18:24, 25
23. Numbers 5:3

Footnotes 8

[a]. Lit "them"
[b]. Lit "smote"
[c]. Lit "judgment"
[d]. Lit "you shall give in"
[e]. Lit "smites"
[f]. Lit "by which he may die"
[g]. Lit "mouth"
[h]. Or "until"