Numbers 35:33

33 So ye shall not pollute the land in which ye [are]: for blood it defileth the land: and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed in it, but by the blood of him that shed it.

Numbers 35:33 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 35:33

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 ) .

---

FOOTNOTES:

F2 (rpky al) "non posset expiatio", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; to the same sense Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version.

Numbers 35:33 In-Context

31 Moreover, ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer, who [is] guilty of death: but he shall be surely put to death.

32 And ye shall take no satisfaction for him that hath fled to the city of his refuge, that he should come again to dwell in the land, until the death of the priest.

33 So ye shall not pollute the land in which ye [are]: for blood it defileth the land: and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed in it, but by the blood of him that shed it.

34 Defile not therefore the land which ye shall inhabit, in which I dwell: for I the LORD dwell among the children of Israel.