Numbers 34–35

The Land of Canaan Is Divided

34Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Command the Israelites^a and say to them, ‘When you come into the land of Canaan, this is the land that was allotted to you as an inheritance, the land of Canaan according to its boundaries. ³Your southern edge will be from the desert of Zin toward the side of Edom, and your southern border will be from the end of the Salt Sea^b to the east; ⁴your boundary will turn from the south to the ascent of Akrabbim^c and will pass over to Zin, and its limits will be from the south of Kadesh Barnea; it will continue to Hazar Addar and pass over to Azmon. ⁵The boundary will turn from Azmon to the valley of Egypt, and its limits will be to the sea.

⁶“ ‘Your western boundary will be the Great Sea;^d this will be your western boundary. ⁷Your northern border will be from the Great Sea;^e you will make a boundary from the Great Sea^f to Mount Hor. ⁸From Mount Hor you will make a boundary to reach Hamath; the limits of the territory will be at Zedad. ⁹The boundary will go out to Ziphron, and its limits will be at Hazar Enan. This will be your boundary to the north.

¹⁰“ ‘You will mark out your eastern boundary from Hazar Enan to Shepham; ¹¹the boundary will go down from Shepham to Riblah from the east side of Ain, and the boundary will go down and border on the eastern side of the Sea of Kinnereth. ¹²The boundary will go down to the Jordan, and its limits will be at the Salt Sea.^g This will be your land according to its boundaries all around.’ ”

¹³So Moses commanded the Israelites,^h saying, “This is the land that you will obtain as an inheritance for yourself by lot, which Yahweh commanded to give to the nine and a half tribes. ¹⁴For the tribe of the children of the Reubenites,ⁱ the children of the Gadites,^j and the half-tribe of Manasseh took their inheritance according to the house of their families.^{k 15}The two and a half tribes have taken their inheritance from beyond the Jordan across Jericho, east toward the sunrise.”

¹⁶Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁷“These are the names of the men who will divide up the land for you for inheritance: Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun. ¹⁸You will take one leader from every tribe to divide up the land for inheritance. ¹⁹These are the names of the men: of the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh; ²⁰of the tribe of the descendants of Simeon, Samuel son of Ammihud; ²¹of the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad son of Chislon; ²²of the tribe of the descendants^l of Dan, the leader Bukki son of Jogli; ²³of the descendants^m of Joseph, the tribe of the descendantsⁿ of Manasseh, the leader Hanniel son of Ephod. ²⁴Of the tribe of the descendants^o of Ephraim, the leader Kemuel son of Shiphtan; ²⁵of the tribe of the descendants^p of Zebulun, the leader Elizaphan son of Parnach; ²⁶of the tribe of the descendants^q of Issachar, the leader Paltiel son of Azzan; ²⁷of the tribe of the descendants^r of Asher, the leader Ahihud son of Shelomi; ²⁸of the tribe of the descendants^s of Naphtali, the leader Pedahel son of Ammihud.” ²⁹These are those whom Yahweh commanded to allot to the Israelites^t the land of Canaan.

Cities for the Levites

35Yahweh spoke to Moses on the desert plains of Moab beyond the Jordan across Jericho, saying, ²“Command the Israelites^a that they give to the Levites from the inheritance of their property cities to live in; and you will give to the Levites pastureland all around the cities.^{b 3}The cities will be theirs to live in, and their pasturelands will be for their domestic animals, for their possessions, and their animals.^c

⁴“The pasturelands of the cities that you will give to the Levites will extend from the wall of the city to a distance of a thousand cubits all around. ⁵You will measure outside the city the eastern edge two thousand cubits, for the southern edge two thousand cubits, for the western edge two thousand cubits, and for the northern edge two thousand cubits, with the city in the middle; this will be for them the pasturelands of the cities.

⁶“All the cities that you will give the Levites will be six cities of refuge, to which the killer can flee; in addition to them you will give forty-two cities. ⁷All the cities that you will give to the Levites will be forty-eight cities, them with their pasturelands. ⁸And the cities that you will give from the property of the Israelites,^d you will take more from the larger group and less from the smaller group; each of them will give according to the portion of their inheritance according to the portion that he inherits.”

Cities of Refuge

⁹Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁰“Speak to the Israelites^e and say to them, ‘When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, ¹¹you will select for yourselves cities for your cities of refuge, that a killer who has killed a person unintentionally can flee there. ¹²The cities will be to you a refuge from a redeemer, so that the killer will not die until he stands before the community for judgment. ¹³The cities that you are to give will be your six cities of refuge. ¹⁴You will give three cities across the Jordan and three cities in the land of Canaan; they will be cities of refuge. ¹⁵To the Israelites,^f to the alien, and to the temporary resident in their midst there will be these six cities as a refuge to which anyone who unintentionally kills a person may flee.

¹⁶“ ‘But if he hit him with an object of iron, so that he dies, the killer must surely be put to death. ¹⁷And if he hit him with a stone in the hand, by which he will die, and he does die, he is a killer; the killer must surely be put to death. ¹⁸Or if he hit him with a wooden object, by which he will die, and he does die, he is a killer; the killer must surely be put to death. ¹⁹The blood avenger himself will put the killer to death; he must put him to death when meeting him. ²⁰If he shoves him in hatred, or he throws something at him with intention, and he dies, ²¹or if he hits him in hostility with his hand, and he dies, the one that struck him will put to death the killer when meeting him.

²²“ ‘Or if in an instant he shoved him, not in hostility, or threw something at him without intention, ²³or with any stone, without seeing it dropped on him so that he dies, while he was not seeking his injury, ²⁴then the community will judge between the striker and between the blood avenger according to these ordinances. ²⁵The community will deliver the killer from the hand of the blood avenger, and the community will restore him to the city of his refuge to which he fled; and he will live there in it until the death of the high priest who was anointed with holy oil. ²⁶But if the killer surely goes out of the territory of the city of his refuge to which he fled, ²⁷and the blood avenger finds him outside the territory of the city of his refuge, and the blood avenger kills the killer, he will not be guilty of blood^{g 28}because he must live in the city of his refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest the killer will return to the land of his property. ²⁹These things will be as a decree of justice for you for your generations in all your dwellings.

³⁰“ ‘If anyone kills a person, the killer will be put to death according to the testimony^h of witnesses, but someone cannot die on testimony of one person. ³¹Also, you will not take a ransom payment for the life of a killer who is guilty of death; indeed, he must surely be put to death. ³²You will not take a ransom payment for the one that flees to the city of his refuge, so that he may return to live in the land before the death of the priest. ³³So you will not pollute the land in which you are; because blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is poured out on it except with the blood of the one who poured it out. ³⁴You will not defile the land on which you are living because I am living in the midst of it; I am Yahweh; I am living in the midst of the Israelites.’ ”ⁱ