The Bible in Basic English BBE
Orthodox Jewish Bible OJB
1 And the Lord said to Moses in the lowlands of Moab by Jordan at Jericho,
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5 And Hashem spoke unto Moshe in the plains of Moav by Yarden near Yericho, saying,
2 Give orders to the children of Israel to give to the Levites, from the heritage which is theirs, towns for themselves, with land on the outskirts of the towns.
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Command the Bnei Yisroel, that they give unto the Levi’im from the nachalah of their achuzzah towns to dwell in; and ye shall give also unto the Levi’im open pasturelands around the towns.
3 These towns are to be their living-places, with land round them for their cattle and their food and all their beasts,
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And the towns shall they have to dwell in; and the open pasturelands of them shall be for their behemah, and for their livestock, and for all their animals.
4 Stretching from the wall of the towns a distance of a thousand cubits all round.
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And the open pasturelands of the towns, which ye shall give unto the Levi’im, shall reach from the wall of the Ir and outward a thousand cubits all around.
5 The measure of this space of land is to be two thousand cubits outside the town on the east, and two thousand cubits on the south and on the west and on the north, the town being in the middle. This space will be the outskirts of their towns.
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And ye shall measure from outside the Ir on the east side 2000 cubits, and on the south side 2000 cubits, and on the west side 2000 cubits, and on the north side 2000 cubits; and the Ir shall be in the midst; this shall be to them the open pasturelands of the towns.
6 And the towns which you give the Levites are to be the six safe places to which the taker of life may go in flight; and in addition you are to give them forty-two towns.
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And among the towns which ye shall give unto the Levi’im there shall be six cities for refuge, which ye shall appoint for the rotze’ach, that he may flee to there; and to them ye shall add 42 ir.
7 Forty-eight towns are to be given to the Levites, all with land round them.
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So all the arim (towns) which ye shall give to the Levi’im shall be 48 ir: them shall ye give with their migrashim (open pasturelands).
8 And these towns are to be given out of the heritage of the children of Israel, taking the greater number from those who have much, and a smaller number from those who have little: everyone, in the measure of his heritage, is to give of his property to the Levites.
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And the arim (towns) which ye shall give shall be of the achuzzat Bnei Yisroel; from them that have many ye shall give more; but from them that have few ye shall give less; every one shall give of his arim unto the Levi’im according to his nachalah which he inheriteth.
9 And the Lord said to Moses,
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And Hashem spoke unto Moshe, saying,
10 Say to the children of Israel, when you have gone over Jordan into the land of Canaan;
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Speak unto the Bnei Yisroel, and say unto them, When ye be come over the Yarden into Eretz Kena’an,
11 Then let certain towns be marked out as safe places to which anyone who takes the life of another in error may go in flight.
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Then ye shall appoint you arim to be arei miklat (cities of refuge) for you; that the rotze’ach may flee to there, which killeth any nefesh bishegagah (unintentionally, accidently).
12 In these towns you may be safe from him who has the right of punishment; so that death may not overtake the taker of life till he has been judged by the meeting of the people.
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And they shall be unto you arei miklat (cities of refuge) from the Go’el; that the rotze’ach die not, until he stand before the Edah in mishpat.
13 Six of the towns which you give will be such safe places;
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And of these arim which ye shall give there shall be shesh arei miklat.
14 Three on the other side of Jordan and three in the land of Canaan, to be safe places for flight.
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Ye shall give shlosh he’arim on this side of the Yarden, and shlosh he’arim shall ye give in Eretz Kena’an, which shall be arei miklat.
15 For the children of Israel and for the man from another country who is living among them, these six towns are to be safe places, where anyone causing the death of another through error may go in flight.
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These shesh he’arim shall be for miklat (refuge), both for the Bnei Yisroel, and for the ger, and for the toshav (sojourner) among them; that every one that killeth any nefesh bishegagah (unintentionally, accidently) may flee there.
16 But if a man gives another man a blow with an iron instrument, causing his death, he is a taker of life and is certainly to be put to death.
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And if he strike him with keli barzel, so that he die, he is a rotze’ach; the rotze’ach shall surely be put to death.
17 Or if he gives him a blow with a stone in his hand, causing his death, he is a taker of life and is certainly to be put to death.
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And if he strike him with an even (stone) in his yad that could kill, and he die, he is a rotze’ach; the rotze’ach shall surely be put to death.
18 Or if he gave him blows with a wood instrument in his hands, causing his death, he is a taker of life and is certainly to be put to death.
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Or if he strike him with a keli in his hand that could kill, and he die, he is a rotze’ach; the rotze’ach shall surely be put to death.
19 He whose right it is to give punishment for blood, may himself put to death the taker of life when he comes face to face with him.
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The Go’el HaDahm himself shall slay the rotze’ach; when he meeteth him, he shall slay him.
20 If in his hate he put a sword through him, or waiting secretly for him sent a spear or stone at him, causing his death;
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And if he push him out of sin’ah (hatred), or hurl upon him bitzediyyah (with intention, by laying in wait) that he die;
21 Or in hate gave him blows with his hand, causing death; he who gave the death-blow is to be put to death; he is a taker of life: he whose right it is to give punishment for blood may put to death the taker of life when he comes face to face with him.
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Or in eivah (enmity) strike him with his yad, that he die; he that struck him shall surely be put to death; for he is a rotze’ach; the Go’el HaDahm shall slay the rotze’ach, when he meeteth him.
22 But if a man has given a wound to another suddenly and not in hate, or without design has sent something against him,
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But if he push him suddenly without eivah (enmity), or have thrown upon him any keli with no tzediyyah (intention, laying in wait),
23 Or has given him a blow with a stone, without seeing him, so causing his death, though he had nothing against him and no desire to do him evil:
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Or with any even (stone), that could kill, seeing him not, and cast it upon him, that he die, and was not his oyev, neither sought his ra’ah,
24 Then let the meeting of the people be judge between the man responsible for the death and him who has the right of punishment for blood, acting by these rules:
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Then the Edah shall judge between the striker and the Go’el HaDahm according to these mishpatim;
25 And let the people keep the man responsible for the death safe from the hands of him who has the right of punishment for blood, and send him back to his safe town where he had gone in flight: there let him be till the death of the high priest who was marked with the holy oil.
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And the Edah shall deliver the rotze’ach out of the yad Goel HaDahm, and the Edah shall restore him to his ir miklat, to which he fled; and he shall abide in it unto the mot HaKohen HaGadol which was mashach (anointed) with the shemen hakodesh [T.N. Notice there is freedom at the death of the High Priest just as there is peace at the death of the Moshiach Kohen; cf Isa 53:5-9; Ps 110:4).
26 But if ever he goes outside the walls of the safe town where he had gone in flight,
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But if the rotze’ach shall at any time come outside the border of the ir miklat to which he fled;
27 And the giver of punishment, meeting him outside the walls of the town, puts him to death, he will not be responsible for his blood:
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And the Go’el HaDahm find him outside the geval (borders, city limit) of his ir miklat, and the Go’el HaDahm kill the rotze’ach, he shall not be guilty of dahm,
28 Because he had been ordered to keep inside the safe town till the death of the high priest: but after the death of the high priest the taker of life may come back to the place of his heritage.
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Because he should have remained in his ir miklat until the mot HaKohen HaGadol; but after the mot HaKohen HaGadol the rotze’ach shall return into his eretz achuzzat.
29 These rules are to be your guide in judging through all your generations wherever you may be living.
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So these things shall be for a chukkat mishpat unto you throughout your dorot in all your dwellings.
30 Anyone causing the death of another is himself to be put to death on the word of witnesses: but the word of one witness is not enough.
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Whosoever killeth any nefesh, the rotze’ach shall be put to death by the mouth of edim (witnesses); but ed echad (one witness) shall not testify against any nefesh to cause him to die.
31 Further, no price may be given for the life of one who has taken life and whose right reward is death: he is certainly to be put to death.
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Moreover ye shall take no kofer (ransom payment, satisfaction) for the nefesh of a rotze’ach, which is guilty of death; but he shall be surely put to death.
32 And no price may be offered for one who has gone in flight to a safe town, for the purpose of letting him come back to his place before the death of the high priest.
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And ye shall take no kofer for him that is fled to his ir miklat that he should come again to dwell in HaAretz until the mot HaKohen.
33 So do not make the land where you are living unholy: for blood makes the land unholy: and there is no way of making the land free from the blood which has come on it, but only by the death of him who was the cause of it.
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So ye shall not pollute HaAretz wherein ye are; for dahm pollutes HaAretz; and kapporah cannot be made for HaAretz for the shefach dahm therein, except by the dahm of him that committed shefach dahm (shedding of blood).
34 Do not make unclean the land where you are living and in which is my House: for I the Lord am present among the children of Israel.
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Therefore, make not tameh HaAretz which ye shall inhabit, wherein I dwell; for I Hashem dwell among the Bnei Yisroel.
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The Orthodox Jewish Bible fourth edition, OJB. Copyright 2002,2003,2008,2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International. All rights reserved.