Numbers 35 Yahweh spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab along the Jordan across from Jericho, saying.

CLV⁽ⁱ⁾ ¹ Yahweh spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab along the Jordan across from Jericho, saying. ² Instruct the sons of Israel so that they give to the Levites, from the allotment of their holding, cities to dwell in; and by the cities, common pasture land around them shall you give to the Levites. ³ The cities will be theirs to dwell in, and their common lands shall be for their domestic beasts, for their goods and for all their animals. ⁴ The common lands of the cities which you shall give to the Levites will extend from the sidewall of the city outward a thousand cubits round about. ⁵ You will measure off outside the city on the eastward edge two thousand cubits, on the southward edge two thousand cubits, on the western edge two thousand cubits and on the northern edge two thousand cubits with the city in the middle. This shall be their common lands for the cities. ⁶ And of the cities which you shall give to the Levites six will be asylum cities which you shall give for the manslayer to flee there. And along with them you shall give forty-two other cities. ⁷ All the cities which you shall give to the Levites will be forty-eight cities, these and their common pasture lands. ⁸ And the cities which you shall give will be from the holding of the sons of Israel:from the numerous one you shall increase and from the little one you shall decrease; each tribe according to the bidding of its allotment which they are allotting shall give from its cities to the Levites. ⁹ Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying. ¹⁰ Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them:When you are crossing over the Jordan to the land of Canaan ¹¹ then you will proclaim your cities which shall be cities of asylum for you; there the manslayer will flee, whoever is smiting a soul to death inadvertently. ¹² They will become for you the cities of asylum from the redeemer so that the manslayer should not die until he stands before the congregation for judgment. ¹³ Of the cities which you shall give six shall become your asylum cities. ¹⁴ Three of the cities shall you give across the Jordan, and three of the cities shall you give in the land of Canaan; cities of asylum shall they be. ¹⁵ For the sons of Israel, for the sojourner and for the guest in their midst, these six cities shall be for an asylum to flee there for everyone smiting a soul to death inadvertently. ¹⁶ Yet if he smites him with an iron instrument and he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death, yea death. ¹⁷ And if he smites him with a stone in his hand by which one may die, and he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death, yea death. ¹⁸ Or if he smites him with a wooden instrument in his hand by which one may die, and he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death, yea death. ¹⁹ The redeemer of blood, he shall put the murderer to death; when he comes upon him he shall put him to death. ²⁰ And if he thrusts him in hatred or flings anything at him with malicious intent and he dies, ²¹ or he smites him in enmity with his hand and he dies, the smiter shall be put to death, yea death; he is a murderer. The redeemer of blood shall put the murderer to death when he comes upon him. ²² Yet if in an instant, with no enmity, he thrusts him or flings any article at him with no malicious intent, ²³ or, when not seeing him, he causes any stone by which one may die to fall on him and he dies, yet he was not his enemy and was not seeking his evil, ²⁴ then the congregation will judge between the smiter and the redeemer of blood by these judgments; ²⁵ and the congregation will rescue the manslayer from the hand of the redeemer of blood, and the congregation will restore him to his city of asylum where he had fled. He will dwell in it until the death of the great priest, whom one anointed with the holy oil. ²⁶ Yet if the manslayer goes forth, yea forth beyond the boundary of his city of asylum where he had fle. ²⁷ and the redeemer of blood finds him outside the boundary of his city of asylum, and the redeemer of blood murders the manslayer, there is no bloodguilt on him, ²⁸ for he should dwell in his city of asylum until the death of the great priest. Yet after the death of the great priest the manslayer may return to the land of his holding. ²⁹ These will be for you a statute of judgment throughout your generations in all your dwellings. ³⁰ Everyone smiting a soul to death, at the mouth of witnesses one shall murder the murderer. Yet a single witness shall not assert guilt against a soul to cause him to die. ³¹ Nor shall you take a sheltering ransom for the soul of the murderer, who stands condemned to die; for he shall be put to death, yea death. ³² And no sheltering ransom shall you take for one who had fled to his city of asylum only to return to dwell in the land before the death of the great priest. ³³ You shall not pollute the land in which you are dwelling; for it is the blood that pollutes the land. As for the land, no shelter may be made for the blood which was shed on it save by the blood of him who shed it. ³⁴ You shall not defile the land in which you are dwelling, in whose midst I am tabernacling, for I, Yahweh, am tabernacling in the midst of the sons of Israel.