Numbers 35:16

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.

BSB

Parallel translations

4 additional translations

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KJV

And if he smite him with an instrument of iron, so that he die, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death.

ASV

But if he smote him with an instrument of iron, so that he died, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death.

YLT

`And if with an instrument of iron he hath smitten him, and he dieth, he is a murderer: the murderer is certainly put to death.

DBT

And if he have smitten him with an instrument of iron, so that he die, he is a murderer: the murderer shall certainly be put to death.

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Commentary voices

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Voices3

On this verse

And if he smite him with an instrument of iron, so that he die,.... As with an hatchet, hammer, sword, knife, &c. he is a murderer; the instrument used by him, and with which he smote, shows that he had a bad design, and intended to kill, or he would never have smitten a man with such an instrument: the murderer shall surely be put to death; be condemned to death, and be executed, by the order of the civil magistrate, according to the law in Gen 9:6 and not be allowed the benefit of a city of refuge.

John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)reformed

Related commentary

The sense is: Inasmuch as to take another mans life by any means whatsoever is murder, and exposes the murderer to the penalty of retaliation; so, if the deed is done in hostility, it is in truth actual murder, and the murderer shall be slain; but if it be not done in hostility, then the congregation shall interpose to stop the avengers hand. Num 35:19 When he meeteth him - Provided, of course, it were without a city of refuge. Num 35:24 The case of the innocent slayer is here contemplated.

Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)evangelical

If he smite him with an instrument of iron, so that he die, &c.--Various cases are here enumerated in which the Goel or avenger was at liberty to take the life of the murderer; and every one of them proves a premeditated purpose.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871reformed

Voices on this verse

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Rabbinic commentary

How the Hebraic tradition has read this verse — and Marcus Brown’s own reading of it.

Cross-references

10 linked verses

The verses this one reaches10

Matthew 5:21
You have heard that it was said to the ancients, ‘Do not murder’ and ‘Anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’
Leviticus 24:17
And if a man takes the life of anyone else, he must surely be put to death.
Exodus 21:12
Whoever strikes and kills a man must surely be put to death.
Deuteronomy 19:11
If, however, a man hates his neighbor and lies in wait, attacks him and kills him, and then flees to one of these cities,
Exodus 20:13
You shall not murder.
Numbers 35:30–33
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.
Genesis 9:5–6
And surely I will require the life of any man or beast by whose hand your lifeblood is shed. I will demand an accounting from anyone who takes the life of his fellow man:
Numbers 35:22–24
But if anyone pushes a person suddenly, without hostility, or throws an object at him unintentionally,
Deuteronomy 17:8
If a case is too difficult for you to judge, whether the controversy within your gates is regarding bloodshed, lawsuits, or assaults, you must go up to the place the LORD your God will choose.
Exodus 21:18
If men are quarreling and one strikes the other with a stone or a fist, and he does not die but is confined to bed,

Cross-references

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The quotation web

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Around this verse

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread — the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

Featured studyCities of RefugeThe unintentional manslayer; the high priest's death as ransom. Hebrews 6:18.

The Bronze Serpent — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

Numbers — Israel on the move — and Israel on the ground in rebellion. Two censuses bracket thirty-eight wilderness years; God's faithfulness holds where the people's does not.

Canon: Old Testament
Author: Moses — the wilderness narrator; ‘Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys’ (33:2)
Date: The wilderness years, c. 15th–13th century BC

The walk5

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first — the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Leviticus 24:17
And if a man takes the life of anyone else, he must surely be put to death.
leads to
- Deuteronomy 19:11–12
  If, however, a man hates his neighbor and lies in wait, attacks him and kills him, and then flees to one of these cities,
- Genesis 9:5–6
  And surely I will require the life of any man or beast by whose hand your lifeblood is shed. I will demand an accounting from anyone who takes the life of his fellow man:
- Deuteronomy 27:24
  ‘Cursed is he who strikes down his neighbor in secret.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’
- Numbers 35:30–31
  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…
- Exodus 21:12–14
  Whoever strikes and kills a man must surely be put to death.

The whole web at once: see the Arc.

Where the connections lead

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