New Living Translation NLT
Common English Bible CEB
1 While Israel was camped beside the Jordan on the plains of Moab across from Jericho, the LORD said to Moses,
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The LORD spoke to Moses in the Moab plains by the Jordan across from Jericho:
2 “Command the people of Israel to give to the Levites from their property certain towns to live in, along with the surrounding pasturelands.
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Command the Israelites that they give cities from their inherited property to the Levites in which to live. You will also give the Levites pastures around their cities.
3 These towns will be for the Levites to live in, and the surrounding lands will provide pasture for their cattle, flocks, and other livestock.
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The cities will be theirs in which to live. Their pastures will be for their cattle, their possessions, and all their animals.
4 The pastureland assigned to the Levites around these towns will extend 1,500 feet from the town walls in every direction.
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The pastures of the cities that you must give to the Levites will extend from the wall of the city outward for one thousand five hundred feet in all directions.
5 Measure off 3,000 feet outside the town walls in every direction—east, south, west, north—with the town at the center. This area will serve as the larger pastureland for the towns.
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You will measure outside the city on the east side three thousand feet, on the south side three thousand feet, on the west side three thousand feet, and on the north side three thousand feet, with the city in the middle. These will be their cities' pastures.
6 “Six of the towns you give the Levites will be cities of refuge, where a person who has accidentally killed someone can flee for safety. In addition, give them forty-two other towns.
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Six of the cities that you give to the Levites will be refuge cities. You will allow the person who kills someone to flee there. In addition to these you will give them forty-two cities.
7 In all, forty-eight towns with the surrounding pastureland will be given to the Levites.
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All the cities that you give to the Levites will total forty-eight, along with their pastures.
8 These towns will come from the property of the people of Israel. The larger tribes will give more towns to the Levites, while the smaller tribes will give fewer. Each tribe will give property in proportion to the size of its land.”
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As for the cities that you give from the property of the Israelites, you will take more from the larger tribes and less from the smaller. Each in proportion to its inheritance will give cities to the Levites.
9 The LORD said to Moses,
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The LORD spoke to Moses:
10 “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. “When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan,
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Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan,
11 designate cities of refuge to which people can flee if they have killed someone accidentally.
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identify for yourselves cities to be refuge cities, where a person who kills someone by accident may flee.
12 These cities will be places of protection from a dead person’s relatives who want to avenge the death. The slayer must not be put to death before being tried by the community.
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The cities will be for you a place of refuge from the close relative of the dead. The person who killed someone may not be put to death until he stands before the community for judgment.
13 Designate six cities of refuge for yourselves,
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You will establish six refuge cities for yourselves.
14 three on the east side of the Jordan River and three on the west in the land of Canaan.
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You will establish three cities across the Jordan and three cities in the land of Canaan. They will be the refuge cities.
15 These cities are for the protection of Israelites, foreigners living among you, and traveling merchants. Anyone who accidentally kills someone may flee there for safety.
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These six cities will be refuge for Israelites, immigrants, and temporary residents, as a place to flee for anyone who kills a person by accident.
16 “But if someone strikes and kills another person with a piece of iron, it is murder, and the murderer must be executed.
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But if someone strikes a person with an iron object and he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer must definitely be put to death.
17 Or if someone with a stone in his hand strikes and kills another person, it is murder, and the murderer must be put to death.
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If someone strikes another with a stone in hand that could cause death and he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer must definitely be put to death.
18 Or if someone strikes and kills another person with a wooden object, it is murder, and the murderer must be put to death.
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Or if someone strikes with a wood object in hand that could cause death, he is a murderer. The murderer must definitely be put to death.
19 The victim’s nearest relative is responsible for putting the murderer to death. When they meet, the avenger must put the murderer to death.
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The close relative responsible for the blood of the dead is the one who will put the murderer to death. When he meets him, he will execute him.
20 So if someone hates another person and waits in ambush, then pushes him or throws something at him and he dies, it is murder.
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If in hatred someone hits another or throws something at him with premeditation, he will be put to death.
21 Or if someone hates another person and hits him with a fist and he dies, it is murder. In such cases, the avenger must put the murderer to death when they meet.
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Or if in hostility someone strikes another with his hand and he dies, the one who struck is a murderer and he will be put to death. The close relative will put the murderer to death when he meets him.
22 “But suppose someone pushes another person without having shown previous hostility, or throws something that unintentionally hits another person,
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But if suddenly and without hostility someone hits another or throws any object at him without premeditation,
23 or accidentally drops a huge stone on someone, though they were not enemies, and the person dies.
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or accidentally drops any stone on him that could cause death and he dies—even though they weren't enemies and no evil was intended—
24 If this should happen, the community must follow these regulations in making a judgment between the slayer and the avenger, the victim’s nearest relative:
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then the community must come to a verdict between the killer and the close relative in accordance with these case laws.
25 The community must protect the slayer from the avenger and must escort the slayer back to live in the city of refuge to which he fled. There he must remain until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the sacred oil.
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The community will protect the killer from the hand of the close relative and return him to the refuge city where he fled. He will live there until the death of the high priest who was anointed with holy oil.
26 “But if the slayer ever leaves the limits of the city of refuge,
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But if the killer ever goes outside the boundaries of the refuge city where he fled
27 and the avenger finds him outside the city and kills him, it will not be considered murder.
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and the close relative finds him outside the boundary of his refuge city and kills him, he will not be responsible for his blood.
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.
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The killer must live in his refuge city until the high priest's death. After the high priest's death the killer may return to the land he owns.
29 These are legal requirements for you to observe from generation to generation, wherever you may live.
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These will be the regulations and case laws for all time in all your settlements.
30 “All murderers must be put to death, but only if evidence is presented by more than one witness. No one may be put to death on the testimony of only one witness.
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Anyone who kills another will be executed on the evidence of witnesses. But one witness alone cannot testify against a person for a death sentence.
31 Also, you must never accept a ransom payment for the life of someone judged guilty of murder and subject to execution; murderers must always be put to death.
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You may not accept a ransom for the life of a killer, who is guilty of a capital crime, for he must definitely be put to death.
32 And never accept a ransom payment from someone who has fled to a city of refuge, allowing a slayer to return to his property before the death of the high priest.
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You may not accept a ransom for someone who has fled to his refuge city so that he can return and live in the land before the priest's death.
33 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.
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You may not pollute the land in which you live, for the blood pollutes the land. There can be no recovery for the land from the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it.
34 You must not defile the land where you live, for I live there myself. I am the LORD, who lives among the people of Israel.”
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You will not make the land in which you live unclean, the land in the middle of which I reside, for I the LORD reside among the Israelites.
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Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible