6The towns that you assign to the Levites shall comprise the six cities of refuge that you are to designate for a manslayer to flee to, to which you shall add forty-two towns. 7Thus the total of the towns that you assign to the Levites shall be forty-eight towns, with their pasture. 8In assigning towns from the holdings of the Israelites, take more from the larger groups and less from the smaller, so that each assigns towns to the Levites in proportion to the share it receives.
9The LORD spoke further to Moses: 10Speak to the Israelite people and say to them: When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 11you shall provide yourselves with places to serve you as cities of refuge to which a manslayer who has killed a person unintentionally may flee. 12The cities shall serve you as a refuge from the avenger,a so that the manslayer may not die unless he has stood trial before the assembly.
13The towns that you thus assign shall be six cities of refuge in all. 14Three cities shall be designated beyond the Jordan, and the other three shall be designated in the land of Canaan: they shall serve as cities of refuge. 15These six cities shall serve the Israelites and the resident aliens among them for refuge, so that anyone who kills a person unintentionally may flee there.
16Anyone, however, who strikes another with an iron object so that death results is a murderer; the murderer must be put to death. 17If he struck him with a stone toolb that could cause death, and death resulted, he is a murderer; the murderer must be put to death. 18Similarly, if the object with which he struck him was a wooden toolb that could cause death, and death resulted, he is a murderer; the murderer must be put to death. 19The blood-avenger himself shall put the murderer to death; it is he who shall put him to death upon encounter. 20So, too, if he pushed him in hate or hurled something at him on purpose and death resulted, 21or if he struck him with his hand in enmity and death resulted, the assailant shall be put to death; he is a murderer. The blood-avenger shall put the murderer to death upon encounter.
22But if he pushed him without malice aforethought or hurled any object at him unintentionally, 23or inadvertentlyc dropped upon him any deadly object of stone, and death resulted—though he was not an enemy of his and did not seek his harm—24in such cases the assembly shall decide between the slayer and the blood-avenger. 25The assembly shall protect the manslayer from the blood-avenger, and the assembly shall restore him to the city of refuge to which he fled, and there he shall remain until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the sacred oil.
26But if the manslayer ever goes outside the limits of the city of refuge to which he has fled,27and the blood-avenger comes upon him outside the limits of his city of refuge, and the blood-avenger kills the manslayer, there is no bloodguilt on his account. 28For he must remain inside his city of refuge until the death of the high priest; after the death of the high priest, the manslayer may return to his land holding.
29Such shall be your law of procedure throughout the ages in all your settlements.
30If anyone kills a person, the manslayer may be executed only on the evidence of witnesses; the testimony of a single witness against a person shall not suffice for a sentence of death.
31You may not accept a ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of a capital crime; he must be put to death. 32Nor may you accept ransom in lieu of flight to a city of refuge, enabling one to return to live on his land before the death of the priest. 33You shall not pollute the land in which you live; for blood pollutes the land, and the land can have no expiation for blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it. 34You shall not defile the land in which you live, in which I Myself abide, for I the LORD abide among the Israelite people.
36 The family heads in the clan of the descendants of Gilead son of Machir son of Manasseh, one of the Josephite clans, came forward and appealed to Moses and the chieftains, family headsa of the Israelites. 2They said, “The LORD commanded my lord to assign the land to the Israelites as shares by lot, and my lord was further commanded by the LORD to assign the share of our kinsman Zelophehad to his daughters. 3Now, if they marry persons from another Israelite tribe, their share will be cut off from our ancestral portion and be added to the portion of the tribe into which they marry; thus our allotted portion will be diminished. 4And even when the Israelites observe the jubilee, their share will be added to that of the tribe into which they marry, and their share will be cut off from the ancestral portion of our tribe.”
5So Moses, at the LORD’s bidding, instructed the Israelites, saying: “The plea of the Josephite tribe is just. 6This is what the LORD has commanded concerning the daughters of Zelophehad: They may marry anyone they wish, provided they marry into a clan of their father’s tribe. 7No inheritance of the Israelites may pass over from one tribe to another, but the Israelites must remain bound each to the ancestral portion of his tribe. 8Every daughter among the Israelite tribes who inherits a share must marry someone from a clan of her father’s tribe, in order that every Israelite may keep his ancestral share. 9Thus no inheritance shall pass over from one tribe to another, but the Israelite tribes shall remain bound each to its portion.”
10The daughters of Zelophehad did as the LORD had commanded Moses: 11Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, Zelophehad’s daughters, were married to sons of their uncles, 12marrying into clans of descendants of Manasseh son of Joseph; and so their share remained in the tribe of their father’s clan.
13These are the commandments and regulations that the LORD enjoined upon the Israelites, through Moses, on the steppes of Moab, at the Jordan near Jericho.
a-a I.e., of its tribes.
a-a Others “before.”
b See note on Exod. 26.I.
c I.e., the screening curtain; cf. 4–5.
a See note at Ex. 25:4
b-b Others “look at the sacred objects even for a moment.”
a-a See Lev. 13. 15.
b Lit. “redeemer.”
c Cf. Lev. 5.15 f.
d See note at Lev. 10.6.
e-e Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
a See note at Lev. 22.21.
b Meaning of harsannim and zag uncertain.
c-c Others “his consecration unto God.”
d Cf. Num. 19.14–16.
e Or “it,” i.e., the consecrated hair; cf. v. 19.
f-f Others “make His face to shine upon thee and be gracious to thee.”
g-g Others “lift up His countenance.”
h Or “friendship.”
a Cf. Exod. 14.10.
a Cf. Exod. 25.37.
b Lit. “elevate.”
c-c Lit. “when the Israelites come.”
a Lit. “him.”
a Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
b Lit. “eyes.”
c-c Others “Return, O LORD, unto the ten thousands of the families of Israel!”
a From root b’r, “to burn.”
b Lit. “cream of oil (or, fat).”
c-c I.e., as for a sacrificial meal.
d-d Lit. “in whose midst I am.”
e-e Lit. “Is the LORD’s hand too short?”
f-f Others “prophesied.”
g Meaning of Heb. yikkareth uncertain.
h I.e., “the graves of craving.”
a-a Meaning of Heb. uncertain. Others “If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD.”
b Cf. Lev. 13.2–3.
a Or “Hoshea.”
b Others “the entrance to Hamath.”
c I.e., “cluster.”
d See Gen. 6.4.
a-a Lit. “set the head and return to”; cf. Neh. 9.17. Others “Let us make a captain and return to.”
b Lit. “food (or, bread).”
c Cf. Exod. 34.6–7.
d Lit. “ten”; cf. note at Gen. 31.41.
e See note at Exod. 10.19.
f Lit. “raised My hand.”
g Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
a See note at Lev. 22.21.
b-b Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
c Meaning of Heb. ‘arisah uncertain.
d Lit. “with upraised hand.”
a-a Lit. “took”; meaning of Heb. uncertain.
b-b According to Num. 26.5, 8–9, Eliab was son of Pallu, son of Reuben.
c Perhaps in the sense of “his face fell.”
d Lit. “his.”
e-e Lit. “You have not even.”
f “Those men’s” is a euphemism for “our”; cf. 1 Sam 29.4. Gouging out the eyes was punishment for runaway slaves and rebellious vassals; cf. 2 Kings 25.4–7; Jer. 39.4–7, 52.7–11.
g Lit. “God.”
a Meaning of parts of verse uncertain.
b I.e., of their tribes.
c Meaning of Heb. wahashikkothi uncertain.
a Meaning of latter part of verse uncertain.
b See note at Lev. 7.35.
c-c Meaning of Heb. uncertain; lit. “from the fire.”
d Or “they are consecrated for your use.”
e Cf. Lev. 7.29 ff.
f See Lev. 27.28.
g I.e., for human first-born; cf. Num. 3.44 ff. For animals see Exod. 34.19 f.
h See Lev. 2.13.
i Lit. “they.”
a Lit. “water for impurity.”
b I.e., the ashes, as in v. 9.
c Lit. “slain by the sword.”
d Lit. “earth” or “dust.”
e I.e., the person being cleansed.
a Of the fortieth year; cf. Num. 33.36–38.
b I.e., “Quarrel”; cf. Exod. 17.7 and note b there.
c Or “angel.”
d-d Lit. “and die.”
a Meaning of
