Numbers 35:31

31 And ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer, who is guilty of death, but he shall certainly 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 And this shall be unto you a statute of right throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

30 Whoever shall smite a person mortally, at the mouth of witnesses shall the murderer be put to death; but one witness shall not testify against a person to cause him to die.

31 And ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer, who is guilty of death, but he shall certainly be put to death.

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

33 And ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are; for blood, it polluteth the land; and there can be no atonement made for the land, for the blood that hath been shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it.

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit. 'soul.'