Numbers 35:22-32

22 But if by chance medley, and without hatred,

23 And enmity, he do any of these things,

24 And this be proved in the hearing of the people, and the cause be debated between him that struck, and the next of kin:

25 The innocent shall be delivered from the hand of the revenger, and shall be brought back by sentence into the city, to which he had fled, and he shall abide there until the death of the high priest, that is anointed with the holy oil.

26 If the murderer be found without the limits of the cities that are appointed for the banished,

27 And be struck by him that is the avenger of blood: he shall not be guilty that killed him.

28 For the fugitive ought to have stayed in the city until the death of the high priest: and after he is dead, then shall the manslayer return to his own country.

29 These things shall be perpetual, and for an ordinance in all your dwellings.

30 The murderer shall be punished by witnesses: none shall be condemned upon the evidence of one man.

31 You shall not take money of him that is guilty of blood, but he shall die forthwith.

32 The banished and fugitives before the death of the high priest may by no means return into their own cities.

Numbers 35:22-32 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.