Numbers 35:26

Easy-to-Read Version

"You must never go outside the limits of your city of safety. If you do and if a member of the dead person's family catches you and kills you, that family member will not be guilty of murder.

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
But if the manslayer shall at any time go beyond the border of his city of refuge, where he flees,

King James Version
But if the slayer shall at any time come without the border of the city of his refuge, whither he was fled;

Lexham English Bible
But if the killer surely goes out of the territory of the city of his refuge to which he fled,

English Standard Version
But if the manslayer shall at any time go beyond the boundaries of his city of refuge to which he fled,

New Century Version
"‘Such a person must never go outside the limits of the city of safety.

New English Translation
But if the slayer at any time goes outside the boundary of the town to which he had fled,

Amplified Bible
'But if at any time the one guilty of manslaughter comes outside the border of his city of refuge to which he fled,

New American Standard Bible
'But if at any time he goes beyond the border of his city of refuge to which he flees,

Geneva Bible (1587)
But if the slayer come without the borders of the citie of his refuge, whither he was fled,

Legacy Standard Bible
But if the manslayer at any time goes beyond the border of his city of refuge to which he may flee,

Contemporary English Version
But if you ever leave the Safe Town

Complete Jewish Bible
But if the killer ever goes beyond the limits of the city of refuge he fled to,

Darby Translation
But if the manslayer shall in any way come outside the limits of the city of his refuge whither he hath fled,

George Lamsa Translation
But if the slayer shall at any time go outside the bounds of the city of his refuge, to which he has fled;

Good News Translation
If you leave the city of refuge to which you have escaped

Christian Standard Bible®
“If the one who kills someone ever goes outside the border of the city of refuge he fled to,

Literal Translation
But if the manslayer at all goes out from the border of the city of his refuge, there to which he has fled,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
But yf the deedsleyer go out of the borders of his fre cite, that he was fled vnto,

American Standard Version
But if the manslayer shall at any time go beyond the border of his city of refuge, whither he fleeth,

Bible in Basic English
But if ever he goes outside the walls of the safe town where he had gone in flight,

Bishop's Bible (1568)
But if the slayer come without the borders of his citie of refuge, whyther he was fled:

JPS Old Testament (1917)
But if the manslayer shall at any time go beyond the border of his city of refuge, whither he fleeth;

King James Version (1611)
But if the slayer shall at any time come without the border of the citie of his refuge, whither he was fled:

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
But if the slayer should in any wise go out beyond the bounds of the city whither he fled for refuge,

English Revised Version
But if the manslayer shall at any time go beyond the border of his city of refuge, whither he fleeth;

Berean Standard Bible
But if the manslayer ever goes outside the limits of the city of refuge to which he fled

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
If the sleere is foundun with out the coostis `of the citees that ben asigned to exilid men,

Young's Literal Translation
`And if the man-slayer at all go out [from] the border of the city of his refuge whither he fleeth,

Update Bible Version
But if the manslayer shall at any time go beyond the border of his city of refuge, where he flees,

Webster's Bible Translation
But if the slayer shall at any time come without the border of the city of his refuge, whither he had fled;

World English Bible
But if the manslayer shall at any time go beyond the border of his city of refuge, where he flees,

New King James Version
But if the manslayer at any time goes outside the limits of the city of refuge where he fled,

New Living Translation
"But if the slayer ever leaves the limits of the city of refuge,

New Life Bible
But if the man who killed another person at sometime goes outside his city where he went to be safe,

New Revised Standard
But if the slayer shall at any time go outside the bounds of the original city of refuge,

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
But if the man-slayer, go out, of the bounds of his city of refuge, whereinto he hath fled;

Douay-Rheims Bible
If the murderer be found without the limits of the cities that are appointed for the banished,

Revised Standard Version
But if the manslayer shall at any time go beyond the bounds of his city of refuge to which he fled,

New American Standard Bible (1995)
'But if the manslayer at any time goes beyond the border of his city of refuge to which he may flee,

Contextual Overview

⁹ Then the Lord said to Moses, ¹⁰ "Tell the people this: You will cross the Jordan River and go into the land of Canaan. ¹¹ You must choose towns to be cities of safety. If someone accidentally kills another person, that person can run to one of those towns for safety. ¹² That person will be safe from anyone from the dead man's family who wants to punish the killer until that person is judged in court. ¹³ There will be six cities of safety. ¹⁴ Three of them will be east of the Jordan River and three of them will be in the land of Canaan, west of the Jordan River. ¹⁵ These cities will be places of safety for citizens of Israel and for foreigners and travelers. Any of these people will be able to run to one of these cities if they accidentally kill someone. ¹⁶ "If you use an iron weapon to kill someone, you are a murderer, and you must die. ¹⁷ If you use a rock large enough to kill someone and you kill another person, you are a murderer, and you must die. ¹⁸ If you use a piece of wood large enough to kill someone and you kill another person, you are a murderer, and you must die.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

After the manslayer had been received into the city of refuge, the avenger of blood could only act as prosecutor; and the magistrates, in the presence of the people, were appointed to decide the cause according to the rules here laid down. Probably the accused person was tried at or near the place where the deceased had been slain, and where evidence could most easily be brought, and in case he was acquitted by the decision of the judges, and with the approbation of the people, he was conveyed back to the city of refuge, where he was protected as a kind of prisoner at large, till the death of the high priest; when the public loss, and the grief occasioned by it, might be supposed to swallow up all personal regrets and resentments, and then he was permitted to return to his house and estate. But if, in the mean while, he ventured to leave the city, and the avenger met him and slew him, he was supposed to merit his doom by thus neglecting the appointment of God for his preservation, and the avenger must not be punished. This shews that in other cases, if the avenger slew an innocent man on surmise, he was liable to the punishment of a murderer; but if, by the testimony of two credible witnesses, the man who had fled to the city of refuge was adjudged guilty, he must without fail be put to death.

Reciprocal: Joshua 2:19 - whosoever

Cross-References

Genesis 25:20
When Isaac was 40 years old, he married Rebekah. Rebekah was from Paddan Aram. She was Bethuel's daughter and the sister of Laban the Aramean.

Genesis 28:2
So leave this place and go to Paddan Aram. Go to the house of Bethuel, your mother's father. Laban, your mother's brother, lives there. Marry one of his daughters.

Genesis 31:18
Then they began traveling back to the land of Canaan, where his father lived. All the flocks of animals that Jacob owned walked ahead of them. He carried everything with him that he had gotten while he lived in Paddan Aram.

Genesis 35:9
When Jacob came back from Paddan Aram, God appeared to him again. God blessed Jacob

Genesis 35:13
Then God left that place.

Genesis 35:16
Jacob and his group left Bethel. Before they came to Ephrath, Rachel began giving birth to her baby.

Genesis 35:18
Rachel died while giving birth to the son. Before dying, she named the boy Benoni. But Jacob called him Benjamin.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

But if the slayer shall at any time come without the border of the city of his refuge,.... Which seems to be the three thousand cubits assigned to every city of the Levites, and so to the cities of refuge; and which, according to the Jewish writers, were a refuge, as the city itself; and it is said x,

"he, that kills a man there, is killed for him, but though the border is a refuge, the slayer does not dwell in it, as it is said. Numbers 35:25, "he shall abide in it", but not in its borders:''

whither he was fled; on account of manslaughter.

x Maimon. Hilchot Rotzeach, c. 8. sect. 11. Misn. Maccot, c. 2. sect. 7.