Numbers 34–35

The Appointed Boundaries of Canaan

34Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Command the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into ^athe land of Canaan, this is the land that shall fall to you as an inheritance—the land of Canaan to its boundaries. ^3bYour southern border shall be from the Wilderness of Zin along the border of Edom; then your southern border shall extend eastward to the end of ^cthe Salt Sea; ⁴your border shall turn from the southern side of ^dthe Ascent of Akrabbim, continue to Zin, and be on the south of ^eKadesh Barnea; then it shall go on to ^fHazar Addar, and continue to Azmon; ⁵the border shall turn from Azmon ^gto the Brook of Egypt, and it shall end at the Sea.

⁶‘As for the ^hwestern border, you shall have the Great Sea for a border; this shall be your western border.

⁷‘And this shall be your northern border: From the Great Sea you shall mark out your border line to ⁱMount Hor; ⁸from Mount Hor you shall mark out your border ^jto the entrance of Hamath; then the direction of the border shall be toward ^kZedad; ⁹the border shall proceed to Ziphron, and it shall end at ^lHazar Enan. This shall be your northern border.

¹⁰‘You shall mark out your eastern border from Hazar Enan to Shepham; ¹¹the border shall go down from Shepham ^mto Riblah on the east side of Ain; the border shall go down and reach to the eastern ¹side of the Sea ⁿof Chinnereth; ¹²the border shall go down along the Jordan, and it shall end at ^othe Salt Sea. This shall be your land with its surrounding boundaries.’ ”

¹³Then Moses commanded the children of Israel, saying: ^p“This is the land which you shall inherit by lot, which the Lord has commanded to give to the nine tribes and to the half-tribe. ^14qFor the tribe of the children of Reuben according to the house of their fathers, and the tribe of the children of Gad according to the house of their fathers, have received their inheritance; and the half-tribe of Manasseh has received its inheritance. ¹⁵The two tribes and the half-tribe have received their inheritance on this side of the Jordan, across from Jericho eastward, toward the sunrise.”

The Leaders Appointed to Divide the Land

¹⁶And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁷“These are the names of the men who shall divide the land among you as an inheritance: ^rEleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun. ¹⁸And you shall take one ^sleader of every tribe to divide the land for the inheritance. ¹⁹These are the names of the men: from the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh; ²⁰from the tribe of the children of Simeon, Shemuel the son of Ammihud; ²¹from the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad the son of Chislon; ²²a leader from the tribe of the children of Dan, Bukki the son of Jogli; ²³from the sons of Joseph: a leader from the tribe of the children of Manasseh, Hanniel the son of Ephod, ²⁴and a leader from the tribe of the children of Ephraim, Kemuel the son of Shiphtan; ²⁵a leader from the tribe of the children of Zebulun, Elizaphan the son of Parnach; ²⁶a leader from the tribe of the children of Issachar, Paltiel the son of Azzan; ²⁷a leader from the tribe of the children of Asher, Ahihud the son of Shelomi; ²⁸and a leader from the tribe of the children of Naphtali, Pedahel the son of Ammihud.”

²⁹These are the ones the Lord commanded to ²divide the inheritance among the children of Israel in the land of Canaan.

Cities for the Levites

35And the Lord spoke to Moses in ^athe plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho, saying: ^2b“Command the children of Israel that they give the Levites cities to dwell in from the inheritance of their possession, and you shall also give the Levites ^ccommon-land around the cities. ³They shall have the cities to dwell in; and their common-land shall be for their cattle, for their herds, and for all their animals. ⁴The common-land of the cities which you will give the Levites shall extend from the wall of the city outward a thousand cubits all around. ⁵And you shall measure outside the city on the east side two thousand cubits, on the south side two thousand cubits, on the west side two thousand cubits, and on the north side two thousand cubits. The city shall be in the middle. This shall belong to them as common-land for the cities.

⁶“Now among the cities which you will give to the Levites you shall appoint ^dsix cities of refuge, to which a manslayer may flee. And to these you shall add forty-two cities. ⁷So all the cities you will give to the Levites shall be ^eforty-eight; these you shall give with their common-land. ⁸And the cities which you will give shall be ^ffrom the possession of the children of Israel; ^gfrom the larger tribe you shall give many, from the smaller you shall give few. Each shall give some of its cities to the Levites, in proportion to the inheritance that each receives.”

Cities of Refuge

⁹Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁰“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ^h‘When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, ¹¹then ⁱyou shall appoint cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the manslayer who kills any person accidentally may flee there. ^12jThey shall be cities of refuge for you from the avenger, that the manslayer may not die until he stands before the congregation in judgment. ¹³And of the cities which you give, you shall have ^ksix cities of refuge. ^14lYou shall appoint three cities on this side of the Jordan, and three cities you shall appoint in the land of Canaan, which will be cities of refuge. ¹⁵These six cities shall be for refuge for the children of Israel, ^mfor the stranger, and for the sojourner among them, that anyone who kills a person accidentally may flee there.

¹⁶ⁿ‘But if he strikes him with an iron implement, so that he dies, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. ¹⁷And if he strikes him with a stone in the hand, by which one could die, and he does die, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. ¹⁸Or if he strikes him with a wooden hand weapon, by which one could die, and he does die, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. ^19oThe ¹avenger of blood himself shall put the murderer to death; when he meets him, he shall put him to death. ^20pIf he pushes him out of hatred or, ^qwhile lying in wait, hurls something at him so that he dies, ²¹or in enmity he strikes him with his hand so that he dies, the one who struck him shall surely be put to death. He is a murderer. The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when he meets him.

²²‘However, if he pushes him suddenly ^rwithout enmity, or throws anything at him without lying in wait, ²³or uses a stone, by which a man could die, throwing it at him without seeing him, so that he dies, while he was not his enemy or seeking his harm, ²⁴then ^sthe congregation shall judge between the manslayer and the avenger of blood according to these judgments. ²⁵So the congregation shall deliver the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall return him to the city of refuge where he had fled, and ^the shall remain there until the death of the high priest ^uwho was anointed with the holy oil. ²⁶But if the manslayer at any time goes outside the limits of the city of refuge where he fled, ²⁷and the avenger of blood finds him outside the limits of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the manslayer, he shall not be guilty of ²blood, ²⁸because he should have remained in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest the manslayer may return to the land of his possession.

²⁹‘And these things shall be ^va statute of judgment to you throughout your generations in all your dwellings. ³⁰Whoever kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the ^wtestimony of witnesses; but one witness is not sufficient testimony against a person for the death penalty. ³¹Moreover you shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall surely be put to death. ³²And you shall take 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 priest. ³³So you shall not pollute the land where you are; for blood ^xdefiles the land, and no ³atonement can be made for the land, for the blood that is shed on it, except ^yby the blood of him who shed it. ³⁴Therefore ^zdo not defile the land which you inhabit, in the midst of which I dwell; for ^aI the Lord dwell among the children of Israel.’ ”