Numbers 35:33

33 So ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are: for blood, it polluteth the land; and no expiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it.

Numbers 35:33 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 35:33

So ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are
The land of Canaan, as it had been by the old inhabitants of it, by idolatry, adultery, and murder:

for blood it defileth the land:
the shedding of innocent blood defiles a nation, and the inhabitants of it, brings guilt thereon, and subjects to punishment:

and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but
by the blood of him that shed it;
or "there can be no expiation" ^F2, or "atonement made" for it in any other way; the blood of the murderer is required at his hands, and nothing short of it will satisfy law and justice, see ( Genesis 9:6 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F2 (rpky al) "non posset expiatio", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; to the same sense Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version.

Numbers 35:33 In-Context

31 Moreover ye shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer, that is guilty of death; but he shall surely be put to death.

32 And ye shall take no ransom for him that is fled to his city of refuge, that he may come again to dwell in the land, until the death of the priest.

33 So ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are: for blood, it polluteth the land; and no expiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it.

34 And thou shalt not defile the land which ye inhabit, in the midst of which I dwell: for I, Jehovah, dwell in the midst of the children of Israel.