Numbers 35:25-34

25 the innocent (man) shall be delivered from the hand of the venger (of the blood), and by sentence of judges he shall be led again into the city, to which he fled, and he shall dwell there, till the great priest die, which is anointed with [holy] oil. (the guiltless person, that is, he who killed unintentionally, shall be rescued from the hand of the avenger of the blood, and by the sentence of the judges he shall be brought again to the city, to which he fled, and he shall live there until the High Priest, who is anointed with holy oil, hath died.)
26 If the slayer is found without the coasts of the cities that be assigned to exiled men, (But if the killer is found anywhere outside the cities of refuge,)
27 and he is slain of him that is venger [of the blood], he that slayeth him shall be without guilt; (and he is killed by him who is the avenger of the blood, he who killeth him shall be without guilt;)
28 for the exiled man ought (to) sit in the city till to the death of the bishop; forsooth after that that bishop is dead, the manslayer shall turn again into his land. (for the exiled person ought to remain in the city until the death of the High Priest; but after that the High Priest is dead, the man-killer can return to his own land.)
29 These shall be everlasting and lawful things in all your dwellings. (These shall be everlasting laws wherever you shall live.)
30 A manslayer shall be punished under witnesses; no man shall be condemned at the witnessing of one man. (A man-killer shall be found guilty, and put to death, only after the testimony of two or more witnesses; no one shall be put to death after the testimony of only one person.)
31 Ye shall not take price of him which is guilty of blood, or death, anon and he shall die. (Ye shall not take payment from anyone who is guilty of murder, so that he can live, but he must be put to death at once.)
32 Men exiled, and fugitives, shall not be able to turn again in any manner into their cities, before the death of the bishop, (Exiled people, and fugitives, shall not be able to return to their own cities, for any reason, before the death of the High Priest,)
33 lest ye defoul the land of your habitation, which is defouled by the (shedding of the) blood of innocent men; and it may not be cleansed in (any) other manner, no but by the blood of him, that shedded the blood of another man.
34 And so your possession shall be cleansed, for I shall dwell with you; for I am the Lord, that dwell among the sons of Israel. (And so the land, in which I live with you, shall be made clean, or purified; for I am the Lord, who liveth among the Israelites.)

Numbers 35:25-34 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 35

Though the tribe of Levi had no part in the division of the land, yet cities out of the several tribes are here ordered to be given them to dwell in, to the number of forty eight, Nu 35:1-8, six of which were to be cities of refuge, Nu 35:9-15, but not for wilful murderers, in whatsoever way they might kill a man, Nu 35:16-21, but for such who had killed a man unawares, Nu 35:22-24, and several rules are given relating to such persons, Nu 35:25-29, but no satisfaction was to be taken in case of murder, nor to excuse a person's return to his own house before the death of the high priest, who had fled to a city of refuge, that so the land might not be defiled, Nu 35:30-34.

Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.