Numbers 35 — FBV

35Verse 1The Lord spoke to Moses on the plains of Moab beside the Jordan opposite Jericho. He told him,^{Verse 2}“Order the Israelites to provide from their land allocation towns for the Levites to live in and pastures around the towns.^{Verse 3}The towns are for them to live in, and the pastures will be for their herds and their flocks—for all their livestock.^{Verse 4}The pastures around the towns you give to the Levites are to extend out from the wall a thousand cubits on all sides.^{Verse 5}Measure two thousand cubits outside the town on the east, two thousand on the south, two thousand on the west, and two thousand on the north, with the town in the middle. These larger areas will be their pastures around the towns.^{Verse 6}Six of the towns you give the Levites are to be sanctuary towns,⁺where a person who kills someone can run for protection. As well as these towns, give the Levites forty-two more.^{Verse 7}The total number of towns you are to give the Levites is forty-eight, along with their pastures.^{Verse 8}The towns that you allocate to be given to the Levites from the territory of the Israelites will be more from a larger tribe and less from a smaller one. The number will be in proportion to the size of the land allocation of each tribe.”^{Verse 9}The Lord told Moses,^{Verse 10}“Tell the Israelites: ‘When you cross over the Jordan into Canaan,^{Verse 11}choose towns as your sanctuary towns, so a person who kills someone by mistake may run there.^{Verse 12}These towns will be for you places of sanctuary from those seeking revenge, so that the killer will not die until they are tried in court.^{Verse 13}The towns you choose will be your six sanctuary towns.^{Verse 14}Choose three cities on the other side of the Jordan and three in Canaan as cities of refuge.^{Verse 15}These six cities will be places of sanctuary for the Israelites and for foreigners or settlers among them, so that anyone who kills a person by mistake may run there.^{Verse 16}But if anyone deliberately hits someone with something made of iron and kills them, that person is a murderer and must be executed.^{Verse 17}If anyone picks up something made of stone that could be used as a weapon and hits someone with it, and kills them, that person is a murderer and must be executed.^{Verse 18}If anyone picks up something made of wood that could be used as a weapon and hits someone with it, and kills them, that person is a murderer and must be executed.^{Verse 19}The avenger⁺is to execute the murderer. When he finds the murderer, he is to kill him.^{Verse 20}Similarly, if anyone hates someone and knocks them down or deliberately throws something at them, and they're killed;^{Verse 21}or if someone hits another with his hand and they die, the one who hit him must be executed because he is a murderer. When the avenger finds the murderer, he is to kill him.^{Verse 22}But if anyone knocks someone else down without meaning to and without hating them, or throws something at them not meaning to hurt them,^{Verse 23}or carelessly drops a heavy stone that kills them, but not as an enemy or intending to harm them,^{Verse 24}then the community must judge between the killer and the avenger following these regulations.^{Verse 25}The court is to protect the killer from being attacked by the avenger and must return him to the sanctuary town that he ran to, and he must stay there until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with holy oil.^{Verse 26}But if the killer ever leaves the limits of the sanctuary town where he ran to,^{Verse 27}and the avenger finds him outside his sanctuary town and kills him, then the avenger will not be guilty of murder,^{Verse 28}because the killer has to stay in his sanctuary town until the death of the high priest. Only after the death of the high priest is he allowed to return to the land he owns.^{Verse 29}These regulations apply to all future generations wherever you live.^{Verse 30}If anyone kills a person, the murderer is to be executed based on the evidence given by witnesses, plural. No one is to be executed based on the evidence given by a single witness.^{Verse 31}You are not to accept payment instead of executing a murderer who has been found guilty—they must be executed.^{Verse 32}Also you are not allowed to accept payment for a person who runs to a sanctuary town and permit him to return and live on his own land before the death of the high priest.^{Verse 33}Don't pollute the land where you live because bloodshed pollutes the land, and the land where blood is shed can't be purified except by the blood of the one who shed it.^{Verse 34}Don't make the land impure where you live because I live there too. I am the Lord, and I live with the Israelites.’”