Numbers 34–35

Boundaries of the Land

34The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Command the people of Israel, and say to them, When you enter ^athe land of Canaan ^b(this is the land that shall fall to you for an inheritance, the land of Canaan as defined by its borders), ^3cyour south side shall be from the wilderness of Zin alongside Edom, and your southern border shall run from the end of ^dthe Salt Sea on the east. ⁴And your border shall turn south of ^ethe ascent of Akrabbim, and cross to Zin, and its limit shall be south of Kadesh-barnea. Then it shall go on to ^eHazar-addar, and pass along to Azmon. ⁵And the border shall turn ^ffrom Azmon to ^gthe Brook of Egypt, and its limit shall be at the sea.

⁶“For the western border, you shall have the Great Sea and its¹ coast. This shall be your western border.

⁷“This shall be your northern border: from the Great Sea you shall draw a line to ^hMount Hor. ⁸From Mount Hor you shall draw a line ⁱto Lebo-hamath, and the limit of the border shall be at ^jZedad. ⁹Then the border shall extend to Ziphron, and its limit shall be at ^kHazar-enan. This shall be your northern border.

¹⁰“You shall draw a line for your eastern border from Hazar-enan to Shepham. ¹¹And the border shall go down from Shepham to ^lRiblah on the east side of Ain. And the border shall go down and reach to the shoulder of ^mthe Sea of Chinnereth on the east. ¹²And the border shall go down to the Jordan, and its limit shall be at ⁿthe Salt Sea. This shall be your land as defined by its borders all around.”

¹³Moses commanded the people of Israel, saying, ^o“This is the land that you shall inherit by lot, which the Lord has commanded to give to the nine tribes and to the half-tribe. ^14pFor the tribe of the people of Reuben by fathers’ houses and the tribe of the people of Gad by their fathers’ houses have received their inheritance, and also the half-tribe of Manasseh. ¹⁵The two tribes and the half-tribe have received their inheritance beyond the Jordan east of Jericho, toward the sunrise.”

List of Tribal Chiefs

¹⁶The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁷“These are the names of the men who shall divide the land to you for inheritance: ^qEleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun. ¹⁸You shall take one ^rchief from every tribe to divide the land for inheritance. ¹⁹These are the names of the men: Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh. ²⁰Of the tribe of the people of Simeon, Shemuel the son of Ammihud. ²¹Of the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad the son of Chislon. ²²Of the tribe of the people of Dan a chief, Bukki the son of Jogli. ²³Of the people of Joseph: of the tribe of the people of Manasseh a chief, Hanniel the son of Ephod. ²⁴And of the tribe of the people of Ephraim a chief, Kemuel the son of Shiphtan. ²⁵Of the tribe of the people of Zebulun a chief, Elizaphan the son of Parnach. ²⁶Of the tribe of the people of Issachar a chief, Paltiel the son of Azzan. ²⁷And of the tribe of the people of Asher a chief, Ahihud the son of Shelomi. ²⁸Of the tribe of the people of Naphtali a chief, Pedahel the son of Ammihud.” ²⁹These are the men whom the Lord commanded to divide the inheritance for the people of Israel in the land of Canaan.

Cities for the Levites

35The Lord spoke to Moses in ^sthe plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying, ^2t“Command the people of Israel to give to the Levites some of the inheritance of their possession as cities for them to dwell in. And you shall give to the Levites pasturelands around the cities. ³The cities shall be theirs to dwell in, and their pasturelands shall be for their cattle and for their livestock and for all their beasts. ⁴The pasturelands of the cities, which you shall give to the Levites, shall reach from the wall of the city outward a thousand cubits¹ all around. ⁵And you shall measure, 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, the city being in the middle. This shall belong to them as pastureland for their cities.

⁶“The cities that you give to the Levites shall be ^uthe six cities of refuge, where you shall permit the manslayer to flee, and in addition to them you shall give forty-two cities. ⁷All the cities that you give to the Levites shall be ^vforty-eight, with their pasturelands. ⁸And as for the cities that you shall give ^wfrom the possession of the people of Israel, ^xfrom the larger tribes you shall take many, and from the smaller tribes you shall take few; each, in proportion to the inheritance that it inherits, shall give of its cities to the Levites.”

Cities of Refuge

⁹And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁰“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, ^yWhen you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, ^11zthen you shall select cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the manslayer who kills any person without intent may flee there. ¹²The cities shall be for you a refuge from the avenger, that the manslayer may not die until he stands before the congregation for judgment. ¹³And the cities that you give shall be your ^asix cities of refuge. ^14bYou shall give three cities beyond the Jordan, and three cities in the land of Canaan, to be cities of refuge. ¹⁵These six cities shall be for refuge for the people of Israel, and ^cfor the stranger and for the sojourner among them, that anyone who kills any person without intent may flee there.

^16d“But if he struck him down with an iron object, so that he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death. ¹⁷And if he struck him down with a stone tool that could cause death, and he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death. ¹⁸Or if he struck him down with a wooden tool that could cause death, and he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death. ^19eThe avenger of blood shall himself put the murderer to death; when he meets him, he shall put him to death. ²⁰And if he pushed him out of hatred or hurled something at him, ^flying in wait, so that he died, ²¹or in enmity struck him down with his hand, so that he died, then he who struck the blow shall be put to death. He is a murderer. ^eThe avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when he meets him.

²²“But if he pushed him suddenly without enmity, or hurled anything on him ^gwithout lying in wait ²³or used a stone that could cause death, and without seeing him dropped it on him, so that he died, though he was not his enemy and did not seek his harm, ²⁴then ^hthe congregation shall judge between the manslayer and ^ethe avenger of blood, in accordance with these rules. ²⁵And the congregation shall rescue the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to his city of refuge to which he had fled, and he shall live in it ⁱuntil the death of the high priest ^jwho was anointed with the holy oil. ²⁶But if the manslayer shall at any time go beyond the boundaries of his city of refuge to which he fled, ²⁷and ^ethe avenger of blood finds him outside the boundaries of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the manslayer, he shall not be guilty of blood. ²⁸For he must remain in his city of refuge ⁱuntil the death of the high priest, but after the death of the high priest the manslayer may return to the land of his possession. ²⁹And these things shall be for ^ka statute and rule for you throughout your generations in all your dwelling places.

³⁰“If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the ^levidence of witnesses. But no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness. ³¹Moreover, you shall accept no ransom for the life of a murderer, who is guilty of death, but he shall be put to death. ³²And you shall accept no ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge, that he may return to dwell in the land before the death of the high priest. ³³You shall not ^mpollute the land in which you live, for blood ^mpollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, except ⁿby the blood of the one who shed it. ^34oYou shall not defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which I dwell, ^pfor I the Lord dwell in the midst of the people of Israel.”