Numbers 35

1 And Jehovah spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan of Jericho, saying,

Yahweh spoke to Moses on the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho and said,

2 Command the children of Israel, that of the inheritance of their possession they give unto the Levites cities to dwell in; and a suburb for the cities round about them shall ye give unto the Levites.

“Command the people of Israel to give some of their own shares of land to the Levites. They must give them cities to live in and pastureland surrounding those cities.

3 And the cities shall they have to dwell in, and their suburbs shall be for their cattle, and for their goods, and for all their beasts.

The Levites will have these cities to live in. The pastureland will be for their cattle, their flocks, and all their animals.

4 And the suburbs of the cities that ye shall give unto the Levites shall be from the walls of the city outward, a thousand cubits round about.

The pasturelands around the cities that you will give to the Levites must extend from the city walls for one thousand cubits in every direction.

5 And ye shall measure, without the city, the east side two thousand cubits, and the south side two thousand cubits, and the west side two thousand cubits, and the north side two thousand cubits, and the city shall be in the midst: they shall have this as suburbs of the cities.

You must measure two thousand cubits from outside the city on the east side, and two thousand cubits to the south side, two thousand cubits to the west side, and two thousand cubits to the north side. This will be the pasturelands for their cities. The cities will be in the center.

6 And [among] the cities that ye shall give unto the Levites [shall be] the six cities of refuge, which ye shall appoint for the manslayer, that he may flee thither, — and besides them ye shall give forty-two cities:

Six of the cities that you will give to Levites must serve as cities of refuge. You must provide these as places to which a person who has killed someone can flee. Also provide forty-two other cities.

7 all the cities that ye shall give to the Levites shall be forty-eight cities, they and their suburbs.

The cities that you give to the Levites will total forty-eight. You must give their pasturelands with them.

8 And the cities which ye shall give shall be of the possession of the children of Israel: from them that have much ye shall take much, and from them that have little ye shall take little; each one according to his inheritance which he will inherit shall give of his cities to the Levites.

The larger tribes of the people of Israel, the tribes that have more land, must provide more cities. The smaller tribes will provide fewer cities. Each tribe must provide for the Levites according to the share that it has received.”

9 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

Then Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

10 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan,

“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, 'When you cross over the Jordan into the land of Canaan,

11 then ye shall appoint for yourselves cities: cities of refuge shall they be for you; that a manslayer may flee thither, who without intent smiteth a person mortally.

then you must choose cities to serve as cities of refuge for you, a place to which a person who has killed someone unintentionally may flee.

12 And ye shall have these cities for refuge from the avenger; that the manslayer die not, until he have stood before the assembly in judgment.

These cities must be your refuge from the avenger, so that the accused man will not be killed without first standing trial before the community.

13 And the cities that ye shall give shall be six cities of refuge for you.

You must choose six cities as cities of refuge.

14 Three cities shall ye give on this side of the Jordan, and three cities shall ye give in the land of Canaan; they shall be cities of refuge.

You must provide three cities beyond the Jordan and three in the land of Canaan. They will be cities of refuge.

15 For the children of Israel, and for the stranger, and for the sojourner among them shall these six cities be a refuge, that one who smiteth a person mortally without intent may flee thither.

For the people of Israel, for the foreigners, for anyone living among you, these six cities will serve as a refuge to which anyone who kills someone unintentionally can flee.

16 And if he have smitten him with an instrument of iron, so that he die, he is a murderer: the murderer shall certainly be put to death.

But if an accused man has struck his victim with an instrument of iron, and if his victim dies, then the accused is indeed a murderer. He must certainly be put to death.

17 And if he have smitten him with a stone from the hand, wherewith one may die, and he die, he is a murderer: the murderer shall certainly be put to death.

If an accused man has struck his victim with a stone in his hand that might kill the victim, and if his victim dies, then the accused is indeed a murderer. He must certainly be put to death.

18 Or if he have smitten him with an instrument of wood, in the hand, wherewith one may die, and he die, he is a murderer: the murderer shall certainly be put to death;

If an accused man has struck his victim with a wooden weapon that might kill the victim, and if the victim dies, then the accused is indeed a murderer. He must certainly be put to death.

19 the avenger of blood, he shall put the murderer to death; when he meeteth him, he shall put him to death.

The avenger of blood may put the murderer to death. When he meets him, the avenger of blood must put him to death.

20 And if he thrust at him out of hatred, or hurl at him intentionally, so that he die,

If he strikes another in hatred or throws something at him, while hiding to ambush him, so that the victim dies,

21 or from enmity smite him with his hand, so that he die, he that smote him shall certainly be put to death; he is a murderer: the avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death, when he meeteth him. —

or if he strikes him down in hatred with his hand so that the victim dies, then the accused who struck him must surely be put to death. He is a murderer. The avenger of blood may put the murderer to death when he meets him.

22 But if he have thrust at him suddenly without enmity, or have cast upon him anything unintentionally,

But if an accused man suddenly hits a victim without premeditated hate or throws something that hits the victim without lying in wait

23 or [have smitten him] with any stone wherewith one may die, without seeing him, and have cast it upon him so that he die, and he was not his enemy, neither sought his harm:

or if he throws a stone that could kill a victim without seeing the victim, then the accused was not the victim's enemy; he was not trying to hurt the victim. But this is what to do if the victim dies anyway.

24 then the assembly shall judge between the smiter and the avenger of blood according to these judgments;

In that case, the community must judge between the accused and the avenger of blood on the basis of these rules.

25 and the assembly shall rescue the manslayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and the assembly shall restore him to the city of his refuge, whither he had fled; and he shall abide in it until the death of the high-priest, who was anointed with the holy oil.

The community must rescue the accused from the power of the avenger of blood. The community must return the accused to the city of refuge to which he had originally fled. He must live there until the death of the current high priest, the one who was anointed with the holy oil.

26 But if the manslayer shall in any way come outside the limits of the city of his refuge whither he hath fled,

But if the accused man at any time goes beyond the border of the city of refuge to which he fled,

27 and the avenger of blood find him outside the limits of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kill the manslayer, there shall be no blood-guiltiness upon him;

and if the avenger of blood finds him outside the border of his city of refuge, and if he kills the accused man, the avenger of blood will not be guilty of murder.

28 for the manslayer should have remained in the city of his refuge until the death of the high-priest; but after the death of the high-priest he may return into the land of his possession.

This is because the accused man should have remained in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. After the death of the high priest, the accused may return to the land where he has his own property.

29 And this shall be unto you a statute of right throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

These laws must be statutes for you through all your people's generations in all the places where you live.

30 Whoever shall smite a person mortally, at the mouth of witnesses shall the murderer be put to death; but one witness shall not testify against a person to cause him to die.

Whoever kills any person, the murderer must be killed, as testified to by the words of witnesses. But one witness' word alone may not cause any person to be put to death.

31 And ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer, who is guilty of death, but he shall certainly be put to death.

Also, you must not accept ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of murder. He must certainly be 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.

You must not accept ransom for the one who has fled to a city of refuge. You must not in this way allow him to reside on his own property until the high priest dies.

33 And ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are; for blood, it polluteth the land; and there can be no atonement made for the land, for the blood that hath been shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it.

Do not pollute in this way the land where you live, because blood from murder pollutes the land. No atonement can be made for the land when blood has been shed on it, except by the blood of the one who shed it.

34 And ye shall not defile the land that ye inhabit, in the midst whereof I dwell; for I am Jehovah who dwell in the midst of the children of Israel.

So you must not defile the land in which you live because I am living in it. I, Yahweh, live among the people of Israel.'”