Numbers 35:33
33
“ ‘Do not pollute the land where you are. Bloodshed pollutes the land, and atonement cannot be made for the land on which blood has been shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it.
Read Numbers 35:33 Using Other Translations
So ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are: for blood it defileth the land: and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it.
You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it.
This will ensure that the land where you live will not be polluted, for murder pollutes the land. And no sacrifice except the execution of the murderer can purify the land from murder.
What does Numbers 35:33 mean?
John Gill's Exposition of the Bible
Numbers 35:33
FOOTNOTES:
F2 (rpky al) "non posset expiatio", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; to the same sense Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version.
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 ) .
F2 (rpky al) "non posset expiatio", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; to the same sense Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version.
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