Numbers 34–35

BOUNDARIES OF THE PROMISED LAND

34The Lord spoke to Moses, ²“Command the Israelites and say to them: When you enter the land of Canaan, it will be allotted to you as an inheritance^A with these borders:

³Your southern side will be from the Wilderness of Zin along the boundary of Edom. Your southern border on the east will begin at the east end of the Dead Sea. ⁴Your border will turn south of the Scorpions’ Ascent, proceed to Zin, and end south of Kadesh-barnea. It will go to Hazar-addar and proceed to Azmon.^{t 5}The border will turn from Azmon^u to the Brook of Egypt,^v where it will end at the Mediterranean Sea.

⁶Your western border will be the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea; this will be your western border.

⁷This will be your northern border: From the Mediterranean Sea draw a line to Mount Hor;^{w 8}from Mount Hor draw a line to the entrance of Hamath,^Cx and the border will reach Zedad.^{y 9}Then the border will go to Ziphron and end at Hazar-enan.^z This will be your northern border.

¹⁰For your eastern border, draw a line from Hazar-enan to Shepham. ¹¹The border will go down from Shepham to Riblah east of Ain.^a It will continue down and reach the eastern slope of the Sea of Chinnereth.^{b 12}Then the border will go down to the Jordan and end at the Dead Sea. This will be your land defined by its borders on all sides.”

¹³So Moses commanded the Israelites, “This is the land you are to receive by lot as an inheritance, which the Lord commanded to be given to the nine and a half tribes. ¹⁴For the tribe of Reuben’s descendants and the tribe of Gad’s descendants have received their inheritance according to their ancestral families,^E and half the tribe of Manasseh has received its inheritance. ¹⁵The two and a half tribes have received their inheritance^c across the Jordan east of Jericho, toward the sunrise.”

LEADERS FOR DISTRIBUTING THE LAND

¹⁶The Lord spoke to Moses, ¹⁷“These are the names of the men who are to distribute the land as an inheritance for you: the priest Eleazar and Joshua son of Nun. ¹⁸Take one leader from each tribe to distribute the land. ¹⁹These are the names of the men:

Caleb^d son of Jephunneh from the tribe of Judah;

²⁰Shemuel son of Ammihud from the tribe of Simeon’s descendants;

²¹Elidad son of Chislon from the tribe of Benjamin;

²²Bukki son of Jogli, a leader from the tribe of Dan’s descendants;

²³from the sons of Joseph:

Hanniel son of Ephod, a leader from the tribe of Manasseh’s descendants,

²⁴Kemuel son of Shiphtan, a leader from the tribe of Ephraim’s descendants;

²⁵Eli-zaphan son of Parnach, a leader from the tribe of Zebulun’s descendants;

²⁶Paltiel son of Azzan, a leader from the tribe of Issachar’s descendants;

²⁷Ahihud son of Shelomi, a leader from the tribe of Asher’s descendants;

²⁸Pedahel son of Ammihud, a leader from the tribe of Naphtali’s descendants.”

²⁹These are the ones the Lord commanded to distribute the inheritance to the Israelites in the land of Canaan.

CITIES FOR THE LEVITES

35The Lord again spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho:^{e 2}“Command the Israelites to give cities out of their hereditary property for the Levites to live in and pastureland around the cities.^{f 3}The cities will be for them to live in, and their pasturelands will be for their herds, flocks, and all their other animals. ⁴The pasturelands of the cities you are to give the Levites will extend from the city wall five hundred yards^A on every side. ⁵Measure a thousand yards^B outside the city for the east side, a thousand yards for the south side, a thousand yards for the west side, and a thousand yards for the north side, with the city in the center. This will belong to them as pasturelands for the cities.

⁶“The cities you give the Levites will include six cities of refuge,^g which you will provide so that the one who kills someone may flee there; in addition to these, give forty-two other cities.^{h 7}The total number of cities you give the Levites will be forty-eight, along with their pasturelands.^{i 8}Of the cities that you give from the Israelites’ territory, you should take more from a larger tribe and less from a smaller one.^j Each tribe is to give some of its cities to the Levites in proportion to the inheritance it receives.”

CITIES OF REFUGE

⁹The Lord said to Moses, ¹⁰“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, ¹¹designate cities to serve as cities of refuge for you, so that a person who kills someone unintentionally may flee there.^{k 12}You will have the cities as a refuge from the avenger,^l so that the one who kills someone will not die until he stands trial before the assembly. ¹³The cities you select will be your six cities of refuge. ¹⁴Select three cities across the Jordan and three cities in the land of Canaan to be cities of refuge.^{m 15}These six cities will serve as a refuge for the Israelites and for the alien or temporary resident among them, so that anyone who kills a person unintentionally may flee there.

¹⁶“If anyone strikes a person with an iron object and death results, he is a murderer; the murderer must be put to death.^{n 17}If anyone has in his hand a stone capable of causing death and strikes another person and he dies, the murderer must be put to death. ¹⁸If anyone has in his hand a wooden object capable of causing death and strikes another person and he dies, the murderer must be put to death. ¹⁹The avenger of blood himself is to kill the murderer; when he finds him, he is to kill him.^{a 20}Likewise, if anyone in hatred pushes a person or throws an object at him with malicious intent and he dies, ²¹or if in hostility he strikes him with his hand and he dies, the one who struck him must be put to death; he is a murderer. The avenger of blood is to kill the murderer when he finds him.

²²“But if anyone suddenly pushes a person without hostility or throws any object at him without malicious intent ²³or without looking drops a stone that could kill a person and he dies, but he was not his enemy and didn’t intend to harm him, ²⁴the assembly is to judge between the person who kills someone and the avenger of blood according to these ordinances. ²⁵The assembly is to protect the one who kills someone from the avenger of blood. Then the assembly will return him to the city of refuge he fled to, and he must live there until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil.^b

²⁶“If the one who kills someone ever goes outside the border of the city of refuge he fled to, ²⁷and the avenger of blood finds him outside the border of his city of refuge and kills him, the avenger will not be guilty of bloodshed, ²⁸for the one who killed a person was supposed to live in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. Only after the death of the high priest may the one who has killed a person return to the land he possesses. ²⁹These instructions will be a statutory ordinance for you throughout your generations wherever you live.

³⁰“If anyone kills a person, the murderer is to be put to death based on the word of witnesses. But no one is to be put to death based on the testimony of one witness.^{c 31}You are not to accept a ransom for the life of someone who is guilty of murder; he must be put to death. ³²Neither should you accept a ransom for the person who flees to his city of refuge, allowing him to return and live in the land before the death of the high priest.

³³“Do not defile the land where you live, for bloodshed defiles the land,^d and there can be no atonement for the land because of the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of the person who shed it. ³⁴Do not make the land unclean where you live and where I dwell; for I, the Lord, reside among the Israelites.”