Numbers 35:15

15 To the {Israelites}, to the alien, and to the temporary resident in their midst there will be these six cities as a refuge to which anyone who unintentionally kills a person may flee.

Numbers 35:15 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 35:15

These six cities shall be a refuge both for the children of
Israel and for the stranger
For an Israelite, and a proselyte of righteousness, one that embraced the Jewish religion, and in all things conformed to it, and to whom there was but one law in things civil and religious:

and for the sojourner among you;
the proselyte of the gate, who renounced idolatry, and observed the commands of the sons of Noah, but in other things did not comply with the Jewish ceremonies, yet had the benefit of the cities of refuge equally with the other; though the Jews say ^F16, such a proselyte or sojourner had only this privilege, who slew a proselyte, but not if he slew an Israelite; but for this distinction there is no foundation in the text:

that everyone that killeth any person unawares may flee thither;
whether an Israelite, or a proselyte of righteousness or of the gate.

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FOOTNOTES:

F16 Misn. Maccot, c. 2. sect. 3.

Numbers 35:15 In-Context

13 The cities that you are to give will be your six cities of refuge.

14 You will give three cities across the Jordan and three cities in the land of Canaan; they will be cities of refuge.

15 To the {Israelites}, to the alien, and to the temporary resident in their midst there will be these six cities as a refuge to which anyone who unintentionally kills a person may flee.

16 " 'But if he hit him with an object of iron, so that he dies, the killer must surely be put to death.

17 And if he hit him with a stone in the hand, by which he will die, and he does die, he [is] a killer; the killer must surely be put to death.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "sons/children of Israel"