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Numbers 35:24

in Numbers 35

then the congregation must judge between the slayer and the avenger of blood according to these ordinances.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

then the congregation shall judge between the smiter and the avenger of blood according to these ordinances;

KJV

Then the congregation shall judge between the slayer and the revenger of blood according to these judgments:

This verse in Numbers 35

Commentary

4 notes on this verse
Then the congregation,.... That is, the court of judicature, assembled together to hear and try this cause: shall judge between the slayer and the revenger of blood; shall hear what both have to say, and pass sentence: according to these judgments; these judicial laws and rules of judgment before delivered, exemplified in various cases.

This site's exposition

pushes a person suddenly, without hostility

on Numbers 35:22-24

Verse 24 has the congregation "judge between the slayer and the avenger of blood", so the bereaved family does not weigh its own case. In Joshua 20:4 the fugitive states "his case before its elders".

This site's exposition

the congregation must judge between the slayer and the avenger of blood

Matthew Henry reads the judges as stepping in only where the case was in doubt. Where the killing was plainly wilful, the avenger acted without guilt. Joshua 20:6 keeps the fugitive in the city until he stands trial before the assembly.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

, that the judges interposed only in a doubtful case, and that if the person on whom he took vengeance was indeed the murderer, and a wilful murderer, the avenger was innocent (

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens

The words behind it

10 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וְשָֽׁפְטוּ֙and they will judge

    veshafetuH8199 →

  • הָֽעֵדָ֔הthe congregation

    haedahH5712 →149 times

  • בֵּ֚יןbetween

    beinH996 →407 times

  • הַמַּכֶּ֔הthe [one who] struck

    hamakehH5221 →499 times

  • וּבֵ֖יןand between

    uveinH996 →407 times

  • גֹּאֵ֣ל[the] avenger of

    goelH1350 →104 times

  • הַדָּ֑ם<the> blood

    hadamH1818 →360 times

  • עַ֥לon

    ʾalH5921 →5755 times

  • הַמִּשְׁפָּטִ֖יםthe judgments

    hamishpatimH4941 →422 times

  • הָאֵֽלֶּה׃<the> these

    haelehH428 →746 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Joshua 20:6

    He 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…

    it leads to

    • Numbers 35:12

      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.

    • Hebrews 9:26

      Otherwise, Christ would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But now He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by…

    • Numbers 35:24–25

      then the congregation must judge between the slayer and the avenger of blood according to these ordinances.

  • Through

    Numbers 35:12

    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.

    it leads to

    • Deuteronomy 19:6

      Otherwise, 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…

    • Joshua 20:3–6

      so that anyone who kills another unintentionally or accidentally may flee there. These will be your refuge from the avenger of blood.

    • 2 Samuel 14:7

      Now the whole clan has risen up against your maidservant and said, ‘Hand over the one who struck down his brother, that we may put him to death for the life of the brother…

    • Joshua 20:9

      These 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…

    • 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,

Where this verse is studied

About Numbers

The Brazen Serpent, Anthony van Dyck, 1618 to 1620. Public domain.
The Brazen Serpent, Anthony van Dyck, 1618 to 1620. Public domain.

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; MannaFest exposition, Berean Standard Bible, Numbers 35 read with Joshua 20 and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.