Towns for the Levites

35 On the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho,^(A) the Lord said to Moses, ² “Command the Israelites to give the Levites towns to live in^(B) from the inheritance the Israelites will possess. And give them pasturelands^(C) around the towns. ³ Then they will have towns to live in and pasturelands for the cattle they own and all their other animals.^(D)

⁴ “The pasturelands around the towns that you give the Levites will extend a thousand cubits^[a] from the town wall. ⁵ Outside the town, measure two thousand cubits^[b](E) on the east side, two thousand on the south side, two thousand on the west and two thousand on the north, with the town in the center. They will have this area as pastureland for the towns.^(F)

Cities of Refuge^(G)

⁶ “Six of the towns you give the Levites will be cities of refuge, to which a person who has killed someone may flee.^(H) In addition, give them forty-two other towns. ⁷ In all you must give the Levites forty-eight towns, together with their pasturelands. ⁸ The towns you give the Levites from the land the Israelites possess are to be given in proportion to the inheritance of each tribe: Take many towns from a tribe that has many, but few from one that has few.”^(I)

⁹ Then the Lord said to Moses: ¹⁰ “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you cross the Jordan into Canaan,^{(J) 11} select some towns to be your cities of refuge, to which a person who has killed someone^(K) accidentally^(L) may flee. ¹² They will be places of refuge from the avenger,^(M) so that anyone accused of murder^(N) may not die before they stand trial before the assembly.^{(O) 13} These six towns you give will be your cities of refuge.^{(P) 14} Give three on this side of the Jordan and three in Canaan as cities of refuge. ¹⁵ These six towns will be a place of refuge for Israelites and for foreigners residing among them, so that anyone who has killed another accidentally can flee there.

¹⁶ “‘If anyone strikes someone a fatal blow with an iron object, that person is a murderer; the murderer is to be put to death.^{(Q) 17} Or if anyone is holding a stone and strikes someone a fatal blow with it, that person is a murderer; the murderer is to be put to death. ¹⁸ Or if anyone is holding a wooden object and strikes someone a fatal blow with it, that person is a murderer; the murderer is to be put to death. ¹⁹ The avenger of blood^(R) shall put the murderer to death; when the avenger comes upon the murderer, the avenger shall put the murderer to death.^{(S) 20} If anyone with malice aforethought shoves another or throws something at them intentionally^(T) so that they die ²¹ or if out of enmity one person hits another with their fist so that the other dies, that person is to be put to death;^(U) that person is a murderer. The avenger of blood^(V) shall put the murderer to death when they meet.

²² “‘But if without enmity someone suddenly pushes another or throws something at them unintentionally^{(W) 23} or, without seeing them, drops on them a stone heavy enough to kill them, and they die, then since that other person was not an enemy and no harm was intended, ²⁴ the assembly^(X) must judge between the accused and the avenger of blood according to these regulations. ²⁵ The assembly must protect the one accused of murder from the avenger of blood and send the accused back to the city of refuge to which they fled. The accused must stay there until the death of the high priest,^(Y) who was anointed^(Z) with the holy oil.^(AA)

²⁶ “‘But if the accused ever goes outside the limits of the city of refuge to which they fled ²⁷ and the avenger of blood finds them outside the city, the avenger of blood may kill the accused without being guilty of murder. ²⁸ The accused must stay in the city of refuge until the death of the high priest; only after the death of the high priest may they return to their own property.

²⁹ “‘This is to have the force of law^(AB) for you throughout the generations to come,^(AC) wherever you live.^(AD)

³⁰ “‘Anyone who kills a person is to be put to death as a murderer only on the testimony of witnesses. But no one is to be put to death on the testimony of only one witness.^(AE)

³¹ “‘Do not accept a ransom^(AF) for the life of a murderer, who deserves to die. They are to be put to death.

³² “‘Do not accept a ransom for anyone who has fled to a city of refuge and so allow them to go back and live on their own land before the death of the high priest.

³³ “‘Do not pollute the land where you are. Bloodshed pollutes the land,^(AG) and atonement cannot be made for the land on which blood has been shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it. ³⁴ Do not defile the land^(AH) where you live and where I dwell,^(AI) for I, the Lord, dwell among the Israelites.’”

Renewal of the Covenant

29 ^[a]These are the terms of the covenant the Lord commanded Moses to make with the Israelites in Moab,^(A) in addition to the covenant he had made with them at Horeb.^(B)

² Moses summoned all the Israelites and said to them:

Your eyes have seen all that the Lord did in Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his officials and to all his land.^{(C) 3} With your own eyes you saw those great trials, those signs and great wonders.^{(D) 4} But to this day the Lord has not given you a mind that understands or eyes that see or ears that hear.^{(E) 5} Yet the Lord says, “During the forty years that I led^(F) you through the wilderness, your clothes did not wear out, nor did the sandals on your feet.^{(G) 6} You ate no bread and drank no wine or other fermented drink.^(H) I did this so that you might know that I am the Lord your God.”^(I)

⁷ When you reached this place, Sihon^(J) king of Heshbon^(K) and Og king of Bashan came out to fight against us, but we defeated them.^{(L) 8} We took their land and gave it as an inheritance^(M) to the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh.^(N)

⁹ Carefully follow^(O) the terms of this covenant,^(P) so that you may prosper in everything you do.^{(Q) 10} All of you are standing today in the presence of the Lord your God—your leaders and chief men, your elders and officials, and all the other men of Israel, ¹¹ together with your children and your wives, and the foreigners living in your camps who chop your wood and carry your water.^{(R) 12} You are standing here in order to enter into a covenant with the Lord your God, a covenant the Lord is making with you this day and sealing with an oath, ¹³ to confirm you this day as his people,^(S) that he may be your God^(T) as he promised you and as he swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. ¹⁴ I am making this covenant,^(U) with its oath, not only with you ¹⁵ who are standing here with us today in the presence of the Lord our God but also with those who are not here today.^(V)

¹⁶ You yourselves know how we lived in Egypt and how we passed through the countries on the way here. ¹⁷ You saw among them their detestable images and idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold.^{(W) 18} Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns^(X) away from the Lord our God to go and worship the gods of those nations; make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison.^(Y)

¹⁹ When such a person hears the words of this oath and they invoke a blessing^(Z) on themselves, thinking, “I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way,”^(AA) they will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry. ²⁰ The Lord will never be willing to forgive^(AB) them; his wrath and zeal^(AC) will burn^(AD) against them. All the curses written in this book will fall on them, and the Lord will blot^(AE) out their names from under heaven. ²¹ The Lord will single them out from all the tribes of Israel for disaster,^(AF) according to all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law.^(AG)

²² Your children who follow you in later generations and foreigners who come from distant lands will see the calamities that have fallen on the land and the diseases with which the Lord has afflicted it.^{(AH) 23} The whole land will be a burning waste^(AI) of salt^(AJ) and sulfur—nothing planted, nothing sprouting, no vegetation growing on it. It will be like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah,^(AK) Admah and Zeboyim, which the Lord overthrew in fierce anger.^{(AL) 24} All the nations will ask: “Why has the Lord done this to this land?^(AM) Why this fierce, burning anger?”

²⁵ And the answer will be: “It is because this people abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, the covenant he made with them when he brought them out of Egypt.^{(AN) 26} They went off and worshiped other gods and bowed down to them, gods they did not know, gods he had not given them. ²⁷ Therefore the Lord’s anger burned against this land, so that he brought on it all the curses written in this book.^{(AO) 28} In furious anger and in great wrath^(AP) the Lord uprooted^(AQ) them from their land and thrust them into another land, as it is now.”

²⁹ The secret things belong to the Lord our God,^(AR) but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.^(AS)