1 Yahweh spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at
Jericho, saying, 2 Command the children of Israel that they give to the
Levites of the inheritance of their possession cities to dwell in; and
suburbs for the cities round about them shall you give to the Levites.
3 The cities shall they have to dwell in; and their suburbs shall be for
their cattle, and for their substance, and for all their animals. 4 The
suburbs of the cities, which you shall give to the Levites, shall be
from the wall of the city and outward one thousand cubits round about.
5 You shall measure outside of the city for the east side two
thousand cubits, and for the south side two thousand cubits, and for the west
side two thousand cubits, and for the north side two thousand cubits, the
city being in the midst. This shall be to them the suburbs of the cities.
6 The cities which you shall give to the Levites, they shall be the
six cities of refuge, which you shall give for the manslayer to flee to:
and besides them you shall give forty-two cities. 7 All the cities
which you shall give to the Levites shall be forty-eight cities; them
shall you give with their suburbs. 8 Concerning the cities
which you shall give of the possession of the children of Israel, from
the many you shall take many; and from the few you shall take few:
everyone according to his inheritance which he inherits shall give of his
cities to the Levites. 9 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 10 Speak to the
children of Israel, and tell them, When you pass over the Jordan into
the land of Canaan, 11 then you shall appoint you cities to be cities
of refuge for you, that the manslayer who kills any person unwittingly may
flee there. 12 The cities shall be to you for refuge from the avenger,
that the manslayer not die, until he stands before the congregation for
judgment. 13 The cities which you shall give shall be for you six
cities of refuge. 14 You shall give three cities beyond the Jordan,
and three cities shall you give in the land of Canaan; they shall be
cities of refuge. 15 For the children of Israel, and for the stranger and
for the foreigner living among them, shall these six cities be for refuge; that
everyone who kills any person unwittingly may flee there. 16 But if he
struck him with an instrument of iron, so that he died, he is a murderer: the
murderer shall surely be put to death. 17 If he struck him with a stone in
the hand, by which a man may die, and he died, he is a murderer: the murderer
shall surely be put to death. 18 Or if he struck him with a weapon of wood
in the hand, by which a man may die, and he died, he is a murderer: the
murderer shall surely be put to death. 19 The avenger of blood shall
himself put the murderer to death: when he meets him, he shall put him to
death. 20 If he thrust him of hatred, or hurled at him, lying in wait, so
that he died, 21 or in enmity struck him with his hand, so that he died;
he who struck him shall surely be put to death; he is a murderer: the avenger
of blood shall put the murderer to death, when he meets him. 22 But if he
thrust him suddenly without enmity, or hurled on him anything without lying
in wait, 23 or with any stone, by which a man may die, not seeing him, and
cast it on him, so that he died, and he was not his enemy, neither sought his
harm; 24 then the congregation shall judge between the striker and the
avenger of blood according to these ordinances; 25 and the congregation
shall deliver the manslayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and the
congregation shall restore him to his city of refuge, where he was fled: and
he shall dwell therein until the death of the high priest, who was anointed
with the holy oil. 26 But if the manslayer shall at any time go beyond the
border of his city of refuge, where he flees, 27 and the avenger of blood
find him outside of the border of his city of refuge, and the avenger of
blood kill the manslayer; he shall not be guilty of blood, 28 because he
should have remained in his city of refuge until the death of the high
priest: but after the death of the high priest the manslayer shall return
into the land of his possession. 29 These things shall be for a statute
and ordinance to you throughout your generations in all your
dwellings. 30 Whoever kills any person, the murderer shall be slain at the
mouth of witnesses: but one witness shall not testify against any person that
he die. 31 Moreover you shall take no ransom for the life of a
murderer who is guilty of death; but he shall surely be put to death.
32 You shall take no ransom for him who is fled to his city of
refuge, that he may come again to dwell in the land, until the death of the
priest. 33 So you shall not pollute the land in which you are:
for blood, it pollutes the land; and no expiation can be made for the land
for the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him who shed it.
34 You shall not defile the land which you inhabit, in the midst of
which I dwell: for I, Yahweh, dwell in the midst of the children of
Israel.
World English Bible - Public Domain |
|
|
