Numberschapter 35
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A.Forty-eight cities with pasture for Levivv. 1-8
1 Again the LORD spoke to Moses on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho: 2 “Command the Israelites to give, from the inheritance they will possess, cities for the Levites to live in and pasturelands around the cities. 3 The cities will be for them to live in, and the pasturelands will be for their herds, their flocks, and all their other livestock. 4 The pasturelands around the cities you are to give the Levites will extend a thousand cubits from the wall on every side. 5 You are also to measure two thousand cubits outside the city on the east, two thousand on the south, two thousand on the west, and two thousand on the north, with the city in the center. These areas will serve as larger pasturelands for the cities. 6 Six of the cities you give the Levites are to be appointed as cities of refuge, to which a manslayer may flee. In addition to these, give the Levites forty-two other cities. 7 The total number of cities you give the Levites will be forty-eight, with their corresponding pasturelands. 8 The cities that you apportion from the territory of the Israelites should be given to the Levites in proportion to the inheritance of each tribe: more from a larger tribe and less from a smaller one.”
B.Six cities where the slayer may fleevv. 9-15
9 Then the LORD said to Moses, 10 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 11 designate cities to serve as your cities of refuge, so that a person who kills someone unintentionally may flee there. 12 You are to have these cities as a refuge from the avenger, so that the manslayer will not die until he stands trial before the assembly. 13 The cities you select will be your six cities of refuge. 14 Select three cities across the Jordan and three in the land of Canaan as cities of refuge. 15 These six cities will serve as a refuge for the Israelites and for the foreigner or stranger among them, so that anyone who kills a person unintentionally may flee there.
C.Murder, accident, and the avenger of bloodvv. 16-29
16 If, however, anyone strikes a person with an iron object and kills him, he is a murderer; the murderer must surely be put to death. 17 Or if anyone has in his hand a stone of deadly size, and he strikes and kills another, he is a murderer; the murderer must surely be put to death. 18 If anyone has in his hand a deadly object of wood, and he strikes and kills another, he is a murderer; the murderer must surely be put to death. 19 The avenger of blood is to put the murderer to death; when he finds him, he is to kill him. 20 Likewise, if anyone maliciously pushes another or intentionally throws an object at him and kills him, 21 or if in hostility he strikes him with his hand and he dies, the one who struck him must surely be put to death; he is a murderer. When the avenger of blood finds the murderer, he is to kill him. 22 But if anyone pushes a person suddenly, without hostility, or throws an object at him unintentionally, 23 or without looking drops a heavy stone that kills him, but he was not an enemy and did not intend to harm him, 24 then the congregation must judge between the slayer and the avenger of blood according to these ordinances. 25 The assembly is to protect the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood. Then the assembly will return him to the city of refuge to which he fled, and he must live there until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil. 26 But if the manslayer ever goes outside the limits of the city of refuge to which he fled 27 and the avenger of blood finds him outside of his city of refuge and kills him, then the avenger will not be guilty of bloodshed 28 because the manslayer must remain in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. Only after the death of the high priest may he return to the land he owns. 29 This will be a statutory ordinance for you for the generations to come, wherever you live.
D.Blood defiles the land you live invv. 30-34
30 If anyone kills a person, the murderer is to be put to death on the testimony of the witnesses. But no one is to be put to death based on the testimony of a lone witness. 31 You are not to accept a ransom for the life of a murderer who deserves to die; he must surely be put to death. 32 Nor should you accept a ransom for the person who flees to a city of refuge and allow him to return and live on his own land before the death of the high priest. 33 Do not pollute the land where you live, for bloodshed pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land on which the blood is shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it. 34 Do not defile the land where you live and where I dwell. For I, the LORD, dwell among the Israelites.”
Chapter summary
The Levitical cities and the cities of refuge.
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Chapter summary
The Levitical cities and the cities of refuge.
Read the rest, the context and the outline ▾Show less ▴
The Levitical cities and the cities of refuge. Forty-eight cities with their suburbs for the Levites. Six of them as cities of refuge, three on each side of Jordan. For the man that killed any person unawares. The manslayer flees to the city; the congregation judges between him and the avenger of blood; if unintentional, he dwells in the city of refuge until the death of the high priest. The intentional murderer, though he flee, is to be put to death: ‘for blood it defileth the land … ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are’. Two witnesses required. The high priest's death ransoms the manslayer; typology for the cross runs through this chapter (Heb 6:18).
Drawn from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory, Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary, John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and John Calvin, Commentaries.
Context
Law · Moses — Numbers overview
- A. 1–8 Forty-eight cities with pasture for Levi
- B. 9–15 Six cities where the slayer may flee
- C. 16–29 Murder, accident, and the avenger of blood
- D. 30–34 Blood defiles the land you live in
Top cross-references8 chapters ▾
Deuteronomy 196 verses
- Deuteronomy 19:6Otherwise, the avenger of blood might pursue the manslayer in a rage, overtake him if the distance is great, and strike him dead though he did not deserve to die, since he did not intend any harm.
- Deuteronomy 19:8And if the LORD your God enlarges your territory, as He swore to your fathers, and gives you all the land He promised them,
- Deuteronomy 19:10Thus innocent blood will not be shed in the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, so that you will not be guilty of bloodshed.
- Deuteronomy 19:11If, however, a man hates his neighbor and lies in wait, attacks him and kills him, and then flees to one of these cities,
- Deuteronomy 19:12the elders of his city must send for him, bring him back, and hand him over to the avenger of blood to die.
- Deuteronomy 19:15A lone witness is not sufficient to establish any wrongdoing or sin against a man, regardless of what offense he may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.
- Read Deuteronomy 19 →
Joshua 206 verses
- Joshua 20:2“Tell the Israelites to designate the cities of refuge, as I instructed you through Moses,
- Joshua 20:3so that anyone who kills another unintentionally or accidentally may flee there. These will be your refuge from the avenger of blood.
- Joshua 20:5Now if the avenger of blood pursues him, they must not surrender the manslayer into his hand, because that man killed his neighbor accidentally without prior malice.
- Joshua 20:6He is to stay in that city until he stands trial before the assembly and until the death of the high priest serving at that time. Then the manslayer may return to his own home in the city from which he fled.”
- Joshua 20:7So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah.
- Joshua 20:9These are the cities appointed for all the Israelites and foreigners among them, so that anyone who kills a person unintentionally may flee there and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood prior to standing trial before the assembly.
- Read Joshua 20 →
Joshua 215 verses
- Joshua 21:1Now the family heads of the Levites approached Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the other tribes of Israel
- Joshua 21:3So by the command of the LORD, the Israelites gave the Levites these cities and their pasturelands out of their own inheritance:
- Joshua 21:11They gave them Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), with its surrounding pasturelands, in the hill country of Judah. (Arba was the father of Anak.)
- Joshua 21:13So to the descendants of Aaron the priest they gave these cities, together with their pasturelands: Hebron, a city of refuge for the manslayer, Libnah,
- Joshua 21:32And from the tribe of Naphtali they were given Kedesh in Galilee (a city of refuge for the manslayer), Hammoth-dor, and Kartan—three cities, together with their pasturelands.
- Read Joshua 21 →
Numbers 355 verses
- Numbers 35:6Six of the cities you give the Levites are to be appointed as cities of refuge, to which a manslayer may flee. In addition to these, give the Levites forty-two other cities.
- Numbers 35:11designate cities to serve as your cities of refuge, so that a person who kills someone unintentionally may flee there.
- Numbers 35:12You are to have these cities as a refuge from the avenger, so that the manslayer will not die until he stands trial before the assembly.
- Numbers 35:21or if in hostility he strikes him with his hand and he dies, the one who struck him must surely be put to death; he is a murderer. When the avenger of blood finds the murderer, he is to kill him.
- Numbers 35:30If anyone kills a person, the murderer is to be put to death on the testimony of the witnesses. But no one is to be put to death based on the testimony of a lone witness.
- Read Numbers 35 →
4 more chapters this one speaks with
Exodus 214 verses
- Exodus 21:12Whoever strikes and kills a man must surely be put to death.
- Exodus 21:13If, however, he did not lie in wait, but God allowed it to happen, then I will appoint for you a place where he may flee.
- Exodus 21:14But if a man schemes and acts willfully against his neighbor to kill him, you must take him away from My altar to be put to death.
- Exodus 21:18If men are quarreling and one strikes the other with a stone or a fist, and he does not die but is confined to bed,
- Read Exodus 21 →
Galatians 32 verses
- Galatians 3:10All who rely on works of the law are under a curse. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”
- Galatians 3:28There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
- Read Galatians 3 →
Hebrews 102 verses
- Hebrews 10:19Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus,
- Hebrews 10:28Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
- Read Hebrews 10 →
Numbers 272 verses
- Numbers 27:1Now the daughters of Zelophehad son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, belonged to the clans of Manasseh son of Joseph. These were the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. They approached
- Numbers 27:11And if his father has no brothers, give his inheritance to the next of kin from his clan, that he may take possession of it. This is to be a statutory ordinance for the Israelites, as the LORD has commanded Moses.’”
- Read Numbers 27 →
Cross-references from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and OpenBible.info.