Numbers · Bible in Basic English
Numbers 35 Bible in Basic English
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 And the Lord said to Moses in the lowlands of Moab by Jordan at Jericho,
1 Yahweh spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying,
2 Give orders to the children of Israel to give to the Levites, from the heritage which is theirs, towns for themselves, with land on the outskirts of the towns.
2 “Command the children of Israel to give to the Levites cities to dwell in out of their inheritance. You shall give pasture lands for the cities around them to the Levites.
3 These towns are to be their living-places, with land round them for their cattle and their food and all their beasts,
3 They shall have the cities to dwell in. Their pasture lands shall be for their livestock, and for their possessions, and for all their animals.
4 Stretching from the wall of the towns a distance of a thousand cubits all round.
4 “The pasture lands of the cities, which you shall give to the Levites, shall be from the wall of the city and outward one thousand cubits around it.
5 The measure of this space of land is to be two thousand cubits outside the town on the east, and two thousand cubits on the south and on the west and on the north, the town being in the middle. This space will be the outskirts of their towns.
5 You shall measure outside of the city for the east side two thousand cubits, and for the south side two thousand cubits, and for the west side two thousand cubits, and for the north side two thousand cubits, the city being in the middle. This shall be the pasture lands of their cities.
6 And the towns which you give the Levites are to be the six safe places to which the taker of life may go in flight; and in addition you are to give them forty-two towns.
6 “The cities which you shall give to the Levites, they shall be the six cities of refuge, which you shall give for the man slayer to flee to. Besides them you shall give forty-two cities.
7 Forty-eight towns are to be given to the Levites, all with land round them.
7 All the cities which you shall give to the Levites shall be forty-eight cities together with their pasture lands.
8 And these towns are to be given out of the heritage of the children of Israel, taking the greater number from those who have much, and a smaller number from those who have little: everyone, in the measure of his heritage, is to give of his property to the Levites.
8 Concerning the cities which you shall give of the possession of the children of Israel, from the many you shall take many, and from the few you shall take few. Everyone according to his inheritance which he inherits shall give some of his cities to the Levites.”
9 And the Lord said to Moses,
9 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
10 Say to the children of Israel, when you have gone over Jordan into the land of Canaan;
10 “Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘When you pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan,
11 Then let certain towns be marked out as safe places to which anyone who takes the life of another in error may go in flight.
11 then you shall appoint for yourselves cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the man slayer who kills any person unwittingly may flee there.
12 In these towns you may be safe from him who has the right of punishment; so that death may not overtake the taker of life till he has been judged by the meeting of the people.
12 The cities shall be for your refuge from the avenger, that the man slayer not die until he stands before the congregation for judgment.
13 Six of the towns which you give will be such safe places;
13 The cities which you shall give shall be for you six cities of refuge.
14 Three on the other side of Jordan and three in the land of Canaan, to be safe places for flight.
14 You shall give three cities beyond the Jordan, and you shall give three cities in the land of Canaan. They shall be cities of refuge.
15 For the children of Israel and for the man from another country who is living among them, these six towns are to be safe places, where anyone causing the death of another through error may go in flight.
15 These six cities shall be refuge for the children of Israel, for the stranger, and for the foreigner living among them, that everyone who kills any person unwittingly may flee there.
16 But if a man gives another man a blow with an iron instrument, causing his death, he is a taker of life and is certainly to be put to death.
16 “‘But if he struck him with an instrument of iron, so that he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall surely be put to death.
17 Or if he gives him a blow with a stone in his hand, causing his death, he is a taker of life and is certainly to be put to death.
17 If he struck him with a stone in the hand, by which a man may die, and he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall surely be put to death.
18 Or if he gave him blows with a wood instrument in his hands, causing his death, he is a taker of life and is certainly to be put to death.
18 Or if he struck him with a weapon of wood in the hand, by which a man may die, and he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall surely be put to death.
19 He whose right it is to give punishment for blood, may himself put to death the taker of life when he comes face to face with him.
19 The avenger of blood shall himself put the murderer to death. When he meets him, he shall put him to death.
20 If in his hate he put a sword through him, or waiting secretly for him sent a spear or stone at him, causing his death;
20 If he shoved him out of hatred, or hurled something at him while lying in wait, so that he died,
21 Or in hate gave him blows with his hand, causing death; he who gave the death-blow is to be put to death; he is a taker of life: he whose right it is to give punishment for blood may put to death the taker of life when he comes face to face with him.
21 or in hostility struck him with his hand, so that he died, he 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 But if a man has given a wound to another suddenly and not in hate, or without design has sent something against him,
22 “‘But if he shoved him suddenly without hostility, or hurled on him anything without lying in wait,
23 Or has given him a blow with a stone, without seeing him, so causing his death, though he had nothing against him and no desire to do him evil:
23 or with any stone, by which a man may die, not seeing him, and cast it on him so that he died, and he was not his enemy and not seeking his harm,
24 Then let the meeting of the people be judge between the man responsible for the death and him who has the right of punishment for blood, acting by these rules:
24 then the congregation shall judge between the striker and the avenger of blood according to these ordinances.
25 And let the people keep the man responsible for the death safe from the hands of him who has the right of punishment for blood, and send him back to his safe town where he had gone in flight: there let him be till the death of the high priest who was marked with the holy oil.
25 The congregation shall deliver the man slayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to his city of refuge, where he had fled. He shall dwell therein until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil.
26 But if ever he goes outside the walls of the safe town where he had gone in flight,
26 “‘But if the man slayer shall at any time go beyond the border of his city of refuge where he flees,
27 And the giver of punishment, meeting him outside the walls of the town, puts him to death, he will not be responsible for his blood:
27 and the avenger of blood finds him outside of the border of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the man slayer, he shall not be guilty of blood,
28 Because he had been ordered to keep inside the safe town till the death of the high priest: but after the death of the high priest the taker of life may come back to the place of his heritage.
28 because 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 man slayer shall return into the land of his possession.
29 These rules are to be your guide in judging through all your generations wherever you may be living.
29 “‘These things shall be for a statute and ordinance to you throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
30 Anyone causing the death of another is himself to be put to death on the word of witnesses: but the word of one witness is not enough.
30 “‘Whoever kills any person, the murderer shall be slain based on the testimony of witnesses; but one witness shall not testify alone against any person so that he dies.
31 Further, no price may be given for the life of one who has taken life and whose right reward is death: he is certainly to be put to death.
31 “‘Moreover you shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death. He shall surely be put to death.
32 And no price may be offered for one who has gone in flight to a safe town, for the purpose of letting him come back to his place before the death of the high priest.
32 “‘You shall take no ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge, that he may come again to dwell in the land before the death of the priest.
33 So do not make the land where you are living unholy: for blood makes the land unholy: and there is no way of making the land free from the blood which has come on it, but only by the death of him who was the cause of it.
33 “‘So you shall not pollute the land where you live; for blood pollutes the land. No atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, but by the blood of him who shed it.
34 Do not make unclean the land where you are living and in which is my House: for I the Lord am present among the children of Israel.
34 You shall not defile the land which you inhabit, where I dwell; for I, Yahweh, dwell among the children of Israel.’”
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Moses
Drawn from the Nile, he led Israel out of Egypt and received God's Law.
Cited in the guide: Exodus 2–Deuteronomy 34
Cross references (26)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Numbers 22:1; Numbers 33:50; Numbers 36:13; Numbers 31:12; Numbers 26:63
- 2 Joshua 14:3–4; Ezekiel 48:8; Leviticus 25:32–34; Ezekiel 48:22; Ezekiel 45:1–8
- 3 Ezekiel 45:2; 2 Chronicles 11:14; Joshua 21:11
- 6 Joshua 21:3; Joshua 21:13; Joshua 21:38; Psalm 62:7–8; Joshua 21:21
- 7 Joshua 21:3–42; 1 Chronicles 6:54–81
- 8 Numbers 26:54; Numbers 33:54; Joshua 21:1–42; Exodus 16:18; 2 Corinthians 8:13–14
- 10 Numbers 34:2; Deuteronomy 19:1–2; Deuteronomy 12:9; Leviticus 14:34; Leviticus 25:2
- 11 Exodus 21:13; Joshua 20:2; Numbers 35:6; Deuteronomy 19:1–13; Deuteronomy 4:42
- 12 Deuteronomy 19:6; Joshua 20:3–6; Joshua 20:9; 2 Samuel 14:7; Numbers 35:24–27
- 14 Deuteronomy 4:41–43; Joshua 20:7–9; Deuteronomy 19:8–10
- 15 Numbers 15:16; Exodus 12:49; Galatians 3:28; Romans 3:29; Leviticus 24:22
- 16 Leviticus 24:17; Exodus 21:12–14; Deuteronomy 19:11–13; Numbers 35:30–33; Genesis 9:5–6
- 17 Exodus 21:18
- 19 Deuteronomy 19:12; Deuteronomy 19:6; Joshua 20:3; Numbers 35:21; Joshua 20:5
- 20 Exodus 21:14; Deuteronomy 19:11; 2 Samuel 20:10; 2 Samuel 3:27; Genesis 4:8
- 22 Exodus 21:13; Numbers 35:11; Joshua 20:5; Deuteronomy 19:5; Joshua 20:3
- 24 Joshua 20:6; Numbers 35:12
- 25 Exodus 29:7; Leviticus 21:10; Hebrews 10:19–22; Hebrews 7:25–28; Joshua 20:6
- 27 Deuteronomy 19:6; Deuteronomy 19:10; Exodus 22:2
- 28 Hebrews 9:15–17; Hebrews 10:26–30; Hebrews 9:11–12; Hebrews 6:4–8; Hebrews 10:39
- 29 Numbers 27:11; Numbers 27:1
- 30 Hebrews 10:28; Matthew 18:16; Deuteronomy 19:15; 2 Corinthians 13:1; John 8:17–18
- 31 1 Kings 2:28–34; Psalm 51:14; Exodus 21:14; Genesis 9:5–6; 2 Samuel 12:13
- 32 Galatians 2:21; Acts 4:12; Galatians 3:10–13; Revelation 5:9; Galatians 3:22
- 33 Luke 11:50–51; Psalm 106:38; Genesis 9:6; Isaiah 26:21; Matthew 23:31–35
- 34 Numbers 5:3; Psalm 135:21; Revelation 21:27; 2 Corinthians 6:16–17; 1 Kings 6:13
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences