Numbers:35

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* And the LORD spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab beside Jordan , [at ] Jericho , saying , * Command the sons of Israel that they give to the Levites , from the land of their possessions cities to live in . And you shall give to the Levites suburbs for the cities all around them . * And they shall have the cities to live in . And their open lands shall be for their cattle , and for their goods , and for all their animals . * And the open lands of the cities which you shall give to the Levites [shall reach ] from the wall of the city and outward a thousand cubits all around . * And you shall measure from outside the city on the east side two thousand cubits , and on the south side two thousand cubits , and on the west side two thousand cubits , and on the north side two thousand cubits . And the city [shall be ] in the middle . This shall be to them the open land of the cities . * And among the cities which you shall give to the Levites there [shall be ] six cities for refuge , which you shall appoint for the manslayer , so that he may flee there . And you shall add forty-two cities to them . * All the cities which you shall give to the Levites , forty-eight cities . You shall give them with their open land . * And the cities which you shall give [shall be ] of the possessions of the sons of Israel . You shall give many from those who have many . But from those who have few you shall give few . Everyone shall give of his cities to the Levites according to his inheritance which he inherits . * And the LORD spoke to Moses saying , * Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them , When you have come over Jordan into the land of Canaan , * then you shall choose cities to be cities of refuge for you , so that the slayer who kills any person through error may flee there . * And they shall be to you cities for refuge from the avenger , so that the manslayer does not die until he stands before the congregation in judgment . * And of those cities which you shall give , you shall have six cities for refuge . * You shall give three cities on this side Jordan , and you shall give three cities in the land of Canaan to be cities of refuge . * These six cities shall be a refuge for the sons of Israel , and for the stranger , and for anyone who stays among them , so that everyone who kills any person through error may flee there . * And if he strikes him with an instrument of iron , so that he dies , he [is ] a murderer . The murderer shall surely be put to death . * And if he strikes him by throwing a stone , with which he may die , and if he dies , he [is ] a murderer . The murderer shall surely be put to death . * Or [if ] he strikes him with a hand weapon of wood , with which he may die , and if he dies , he is a murderer . The murderer shall surely be put to death . * The revenger of blood himself shall kill the murderer . When he meets him , he shall kill him . * And if he stabs him from hatred , or hurls at him by lying in wait , so that he dies , * or in hatred strikes him with his hand so that he dies , he who struck [him ] shall surely he put to death . He [is ] a murderer . The revenger of blood will kill the murderer when he meets him . * But if he thrusts him suddenly without hatred , or has thrown something on him without lying in wait , * or with any stone with which a man may die if he does not see , and throws [it ] upon him so that he dies , and was not his enemy , neither sought his harm , * then the congregation shall judge between the one who kills and the revenger of blood according to these judgments . * And the congregation shall deliver the one who kills out of the hand of the revenger of blood . And the congregation shall send him back to the city of his refuge , to which he had fled . And he shall stay in it until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil . * But if the one who killed shall at any time come outside the border of the city of his refuge to which he had fled , * and if the avenger of blood finds him outside the borders of the city of his refuge , and if the avenger of blood kills the slayer , he shall not be guilty of blood , * because he should have remained in the city of his refuge until the death of the high priest . But after the death of the high priest the one who killed shall return to the land of his possession . * So these [things ] shall be for a statute of judgment to you throughout your generations in all your dwellings . * Whoever kills any person , the murderer shall be put to death by the mouth of witnesses . But one witness shall not testify against any person [to cause him ] to die . * And you shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer who [is ] guilty of death . But he shall surely be put to death . * And you shall take no ransom [for him ] who has fled to the city of his refuge , to return to live in the land until the death of the [high ] priest . * So you shall not defile the land in which you [are ]. For blood defiles the land . And the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed in it , except by the blood of him that shed it . * So do not defile the land which you shall inhabit , in which I dwell . For I the LORD dwell among the sons of Israel .

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