Numbers 35 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
spoke to Moses on the of by the Jordan across from Jericho. He said,
"Tell the Israelites to give the towns to live in from their inherited land. Also give them around those towns.
The towns will be theirs to live in, and the pasturelands will be for their cattle, their livestock, and all their other animals.
The pasturelands around the towns you give the Levites will extend out from the town wall in every direction.
Outside the town, measure off on the east side, on the south side, on the west side, and on the north side, with the town in the center. This will be their pastureland around the towns.
Among the towns you give the Levites, six will be of — places where someone who has killed a person can flee. In addition to those, give them forty-two other towns.
So the total number of towns you give the Levites will be forty-eight, along with their pasturelands.
The towns you give from Israelite territory should be proportional — take more towns from a larger tribe and fewer from a smaller one. Each tribe should give towns to the Levites in proportion to the land it inherited."
Then Yahweh said to Moses,
"Tell the Israelites: When you cross the Jordan into the land of
designate cities of refuge for yourselves — places where someone who another person can flee.
These cities will be your protection from the so that the person who killed someone won't die before standing trial before the community.
Of these cities you designate, six will serve as your cities of refuge.
Designate three cities east of the Jordan and three cities in the land of Canaan as cities of refuge.
These six cities will serve as refuge for Israelites, for and for you — so that who accidentally kills someone can flee there.
"But if someone strikes another person with an iron object and they die, that person is a The must be put to death.
If someone strikes another with a stone large enough to kill, and they die, that person is a murderer. The murderer must be put to death.
Or if someone strikes another with a wooden object large enough to kill, and they die, that person is a murderer. The murderer must be put to death.
The is the one who will put the murderer to death. When the finds the murderer, the will kill them.
If someone pushes another person out of hatred, or throws something at them deliberately and they die,
or strikes them with a fist out of hostility and they die — the one who struck the blow must be put to death. That person is a murderer, and the family avenger will put the murderer to death when they find them.
"But if someone pushes another person suddenly without hostility, or throws an object at them without intending to,
or without looking drops a stone big enough to kill and it hits someone who then dies — but they weren't an enemy and didn't mean any harm —
then the must judge between the killer and the family avenger according to these
The community must protect the killer from the family avenger and return them to the city of refuge where they fled. They must stay there until the death of the who was anointed with the
"But if the killer ever goes outside the boundaries of the city of refuge where they fled,
and the family avenger finds them outside the city of refuge and kills the killer — the avenger is not of
The killer must stay in the city of refuge until the high priest dies. Only after the high priest's death may they return to their own property.
"These will be your for all generations, wherever you live.
"Anyone who kills a person will be put to death as a murderer only on the testimony of No one can be put to death on just one person's testimony.
"Don't accept a for the life of a murderer who deserves to die. They must be put to death.
"And don't accept a ransom payment for someone who has fled to a city of refuge, allowing them to come back and live on their own land before the high priest dies.
"Don't the land where you live. Bloodshed pollutes the land, and the land cannot be of the blood shed on it except by the blood of the one who shed it.
Don't make the land where you — the land where I myself dwell. Because I, Yahweh, the Israelites."