Numbers, Chapter 35:

Number Verses, Chapter 35 of the Bible's Book of Numbers.

Cities for the Levites

• 1. The Lord said to Moses in the plain of Moab, by the Jordan, near Jericho:
• 2. “Give the following instructions to the children of Israel: When you enter the land of Canaan, divide it into an inheritance by lot among the tribes of Israel. And appoint cities for the Levites, which will be their possessions.
• 3. The cities will be for them to live in, and their land around them will be for their cattle, animals and all their belongings.
• 4. The land around the cities that you give to the Levites will be a thousand cubits from the city walls.
• 5. Measure out on the east side two thousand cubits, on the south side two thousand cubits, on the west side two thousand cubits, and on the north side two thousand cubits, with the city in the center. These will be the lands of the Levites.

Cities of refuge

• 6. Among the cities that you give to the Levites, six cities will be cities of refuge, where the manslayer can flee, and in addition to them you will give forty-two more cities.
• 7. All the cities you give to the Levites will be forty-eight, together with their surrounding lands.
• 8. As for the cities that you give from the inheritance of the children of Israel, to the tribe that has many they will give more, and to the tribe that has few they will give less; each tribe will give of its cities to the Levites in proportion to the inheritance it receives.”
• 9. The Lord said to Moses:
• 10. “Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: When you cross the Jordan and enter Canaan,
• 11. Choose cities to be cities of refuge, where the manslayer who kills someone unintentionally can flee.
• 12. They will be cities of refuge for you from the avenger of blood, so that the manslayer does not die before he stands trial before the assembly.
• 13. Of the six cities you give, three will be cities of refuge.
• 14. You will give three cities on the east side of the Jordan and three cities in the land of Canaan, cities of refuge.
• 15. These six cities will serve as a refuge for both the Israelites and the foreign residents, so that anyone who kills someone unintentionally can flee there.
• 16. “If someone hits another person with an iron object, so that he dies, he is a murderer; the murderer will certainly be killed.
• 17. If anyone hits another person with a stone in his hands, so that he dies, he is a murderer; the murderer will certainly be killed.
• 18. If someone hits another person with a wooden object in his hands, so that he dies, he is a murderer; the murderer will certainly be killed.
• 19. The avenger of blood will kill the murderer; When he meets him, the avenger of blood will kill him.
• 20. If someone pushes another person on purpose, or throws something at them on purpose, causing their death,
• 21. or if, in enmity, he strikes another person with his hand, so that he dies, the person he struck will certainly be killed; He's a killer. The blood avenger will kill the killer when he meets him.
• 22. “But if someone pushes another person suddenly, without enmity, or throws something at him without intention,
• 23. or, without seeing her, drop a stone on her that could kill her, causing her death, although he was not her enemy and had no intention of harming her,
• 24. then the assembly will judge between the one who struck and the avenger of blood according to these regulations.
• 25. The assembly will protect the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood, and the assembly will return him to the city of refuge where he fled. He must live there until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil.
• 26. “But if the manslayer leaves the limits of the city of refuge to which he fled
• 27. and the avenger of blood finds him outside the limits of the city of refuge and kills him, the avenger of blood will not be found guilty of murder.
• 28. The manslayer must remain in the city of refuge until the death of the high priest; only after the death of the high priest can he return to his own property.
• 29. “These things will be a statute for ever for you throughout your generations, wherever you live.
• 30. “If someone kills another person, the killer will be killed according to the testimony of witnesses, but a single witness will not be enough to sentence someone to death.
• 31. “Do not accept ransom for the life of a murderer, who deserves death; he will certainly be killed.
• 32. Do not accept ransom for anyone who has fled to one of the cities of refuge, so that he can return and live on his own property before the death of the high priest.
• 33. “Do not defile the land where you are, for the shedding of blood defiles the land, and there is no atonement for the land because of the blood shed, except the blood of the one who shed it.
• 34. Do not defile the land where you live and where I live, for I, the Lord, live among the Israelites.”

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