Numbers 35:28

28 The accused must stay in the city of refuge until the death of the high priest; only after the death of the high priest may they return to their own property.

Numbers 35:28 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
28 Because he should have remained in the city of his refuge until the death of the high priest: but after the death of the high priest the slayer shall return into the land of his possession.
English Standard Version (ESV)
28 For he must remain in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest, but after the death of the high priest the manslayer may return to the land of his possession.
New Living Translation (NLT)
28 The slayer should have stayed inside the city of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest, the slayer may return to his own property.
The Message Bible (MSG)
28 "So it's important that he stay in his asylum-city until the death of the High Priest. After the death of the High Priest he is free to return to his own place.
American Standard Version (ASV)
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 into the land of his possession.
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
28 Accused murderers must stay in their city of refuge until the death of the chief priest. They may go back to their own property only after his death.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
28 for the one who killed a person was supposed to live in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. Only after the death of the high priest may the one who has killed a person return to the land he possesses.
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
28 " 'The one who has been charged must stay in that city until the high priest dies. Only then can the one who has been charged return home.

Numbers 35:28 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 35:28

Because he should have remained in the city of his refuge
until the death of the high priest
Nothing could give him his liberty but his death; so that though this was a merciful provision made in such cases for such persons, and was a considerable benefit and privilege, yet it carried in it some appearance of a punishment; since such a person was confined within the boundaries of one of the cities of refuge as long as the high priest lived; and this was done to make persons cautious how they were any way accessory to the death of another, though without design:

but after the death of the high priest the slayer shall return into the
land of his possession;
to that part of the land, and to that tribe to which he belonged, to his house and family, and to his possessions and inheritances, whatever he had, and to all the honours and privileges he before enjoyed, and under no danger from the avenger of blood henceforward: a custom somewhat like this has prevailed in some parts of Africa, as Leo Africanus F25 relates, that if a man happened to kill another, all the friends of the deceased conspired to kill him, but if they could not effect it, then the guilty person was proclaimed an exile from the city, for the whole space of seven years; and at the expiration of the whole seven years, when he returned from his exile, the chief men of the city invited him to a feast, and so he was restored to his liberty: temples, groves, altars, and statues, were common among other nations for asylums or refuges, but whole cities very rarely with the ancients; it seems there were some F26.


FOOTNOTES:

F25 Descriptio Africae, l. 2. p. 135, 136.
F26 Vid. Marmor. Oxon. & Not. in ib. p. 25. & Rittershusium de Jure Asylorum, c. 2.

Numbers 35:28 In-Context

26 “ ‘But if the accused ever goes outside the limits of the city of refuge to which they fled
27 and the avenger of blood finds them outside the city, the avenger of blood may kill the accused without being guilty of murder.
28 The accused must stay in the city of refuge until the death of the high priest; only after the death of the high priest may they return to their own property.
29 “ ‘This is to have the force of law for you throughout the generations to come, wherever you live.
30 “ ‘Anyone who kills a person is to be put to death as a murderer only on the testimony of witnesses. But no one is to be put to death on the testimony of only one witness.
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