Numbers 35:30-34

³⁰The murderer shall be punished by witnesses: none shall be condemned upon the evidence of one man.

³¹You shall not take money of him that is guilty of blood, but he shall die forthwith.

³²The banished and fugitives before the death of the high priest may by no means return into their own cities.

³³Defile not the land of your habitation, which is stained with the blood of the innocent: neither can it otherwise be expiated, but by his blood that hath shed the blood of another.

³⁴And thus shall your possession he cleansed, myself abiding with you. For I am the Lord that dwell among the children of Israel.

Numbers 35 details the divine instructions for establishing cities of refuge for unintentional killers and the provision of cities for the Levites. This chapter addresses the sanctity of human life, the need for justice, and the importance of due process within the Israelite community. It highlights God's concern for both the victim and the accused, ensuring that justice is administered fairly and that the land is not defiled by innocent blood. The chapter bridges the gap between the wilderness wanderings and the settled life in Canaan, laying down crucial legal frameworks for the new society.

Douay-Rheims American Edition 1899 (DRA) Public Domain. The Douay-Rheims Bible (Challoner revision, 1899 American edition) is in the public domain.

Midvash cross references + OpenBible.info data (CC BY 4.0).

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Numbers 35:30-34

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