Numbers 35:9

THE MESSAGE

God spoke to Moses: "Speak to the People of Israel. Tell them, When you cross the River Jordan into the country of Canaan, designate your asylum-cities, towns to which a person who accidentally kills someone can flee for asylum. They will be places of refuge from the avenger so that the alleged murderer won't be killed until he can appear before the community in court. Provide six asylum-cities. Designate three of the towns to the east side of the Jordan, the other three in Canaan proper—asylum-cities for the People of Israel, for the foreigner, and for any occasional visitors or guests—six asylum-cities to run to for anyone who accidentally kills another.

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
The LORD spoke to Moshe, saying,

King James Version
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

Lexham English Bible
Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

English Standard Version
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

New Century Version
Then the Lord said to Moses,

New English Translation
Then the Lord spoke to Moses:

Amplified Bible
Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

New American Standard Bible
Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

Geneva Bible (1587)
And the Lorde spake vnto Moses, saying,

Legacy Standard Bible
Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

Contemporary English Version
The Lord then told Moses

Complete Jewish Bible
(RY: vii, LY: vi) Adonai said to Moshe,

Darby Translation
And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

Easy-to-Read Version
Then the Lord said to Moses,

George Lamsa Translation
And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

Good News Translation
The Lord told Moses

Christian Standard Bible®
The Lord said to Moses,

Literal Translation
And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And the LORDE talked wt Moses & saide:

American Standard Version
And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,

Bible in Basic English
And the Lord said to Moses,

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And the Lorde spake vnto Moyses, saying:

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying:

King James Version (1611)
And the Lord spake vnto Moses, saying,

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

English Revised Version
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

Berean Standard Bible
Then the LORD said to Moses,

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
The Lord seide to Moises,

Young's Literal Translation
And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying,

Update Bible Version
And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

Webster's Bible Translation
And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

World English Bible
Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

New King James Version
Deuteronomy 19:1-13; Joshua 20:1-9">[xr] Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

New Living Translation
The Lord said to Moses,

New Life Bible
Then the Lord said to Moses,

New Revised Standard
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Then spake Yahweh unto Moses, saying:

Douay-Rheims Bible
The Lord said to Moses:

Revised Standard Version
And the LORD said to Moses,

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

Contextual Overview

⁹ God spoke to Moses: "Speak to the People of Israel. Tell them, When you cross the River Jordan into the country of Canaan, designate your asylum-cities, towns to which a person who accidentally kills someone can flee for asylum. They will be places of refuge from the avenger so that the alleged murderer won't be killed until he can appear before the community in court. Provide six asylum-cities. Designate three of the towns to the east side of the Jordan, the other three in Canaan proper—asylum-cities for the People of Israel, for the foreigner, and for any occasional visitors or guests—six asylum-cities to run to for anyone who accidentally kills another. ¹⁶ "But if the killer has used an iron object, that's just plain murder; he's obviously a murderer and must be put to death. ¹⁷ "Or if he has a rock in his hand big enough to kill and the man dies, that's murder; he's a murderer and must be put to death. ¹⁸ "Or if he's carrying a wooden club heavy enough to kill and the man dies, that's murder; he's a murderer and must be put to death. ¹⁹ "In such cases the avenger has a right to kill the murderer when he meets him—he can kill him on the spot. ²⁰"And if out of sheer hatred a man pushes another or from ambush throws something at him and he dies, or angrily hits him with his fist and kills him, that's murder—he must be put to death. The avenger has a right to kill him when he gets him. ²²"If, however, he impulsively pushes someone and there is no history of hard feelings, or he impetuously picks up something and throws it, or he accidentally drops a stone tool—a maul or hammer, say—and it hits and kills someone he didn't even know was there, and there's no suspicion that there was bad blood between them, the community is to judge between the killer and the avenger following these guidelines. It's the task of the community to save the killer from the hand of the avenger—the community is to return him to his asylum-city to which he fled. He must stay there until the death of the High Priest who was anointed with the holy oil. But if the murderer leaves the asylum-city to which he has fled, and the avenger finds him outside the borders of his asylum-city, the avenger has a right to kill the murderer. And he's not considered guilty of murder. ²⁸ "So it's important that he stay in his asylum-city until the death of the High Priest. After the death of the High Priest he is free to return to his own place. ²⁹ "These are the procedures for making judgments from now on, wherever you live. ³⁰ "Anyone who kills another may be executed only on the testimony of eyewitnesses. But no one can be executed on the testimony of only one witness.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Cross-References

Genesis 12:7
God appeared to Abram and said, "I will give this land to your children." Abram built an altar at the place God had appeared to him.

Genesis 17:1
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, God showed up and said to him, "I am The Strong God, live entirely before me, live to the hilt! I'll make a covenant between us and I'll give you a huge family."

Genesis 18:1
God appeared to Abraham at the Oaks of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance of his tent. It was the hottest part of the day. He looked up and saw three men standing. He ran from his tent to greet them and bowed before them.

Genesis 26:2
God appeared to him and said, "Don't go down to Egypt; stay where I tell you. Stay here in this land and I'll be with you and bless you. I'm giving you and your children all these lands, fulfilling the oath that I swore to your father Abraham. I'll make your descendants as many as the stars in the sky and give them all these lands. All the nations of the Earth will get a blessing for themselves through your descendants. And why? Because Abraham obeyed my summons and kept my charge—my commands, my guidelines, my teachings."

Genesis 28:13
Then God was right before him, saying, "I am God , the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. I'm giving the ground on which you are sleeping to you and to your descendants. Your descendants will be as the dust of the Earth; they'll stretch from west to east and from north to south. All the families of the Earth will bless themselves in you and your descendants. Yes. I'll stay with you, I'll protect you wherever you go, and I'll bring you back to this very ground. I'll stick with you until I've done everything I promised you."

Genesis 31:3
That's when God said to Jacob, "Go back home where you were born. I'll go with you."

Genesis 32:1
And Jacob went his way. Angels of God met him. When Jacob saw them he said, "Oh! God's Camp!" And he named the place Mahanaim (Campground).

Genesis 35:1
God spoke to Jacob: "Go back to Bethel. Stay there and build an altar to the God who revealed himself to you when you were running for your life from your brother Esau."

Genesis 35:2
Jacob told his family and all those who lived with him, "Throw out all the alien gods which you have, take a good bath and put on clean clothes, we're going to Bethel. I'm going to build an altar there to the God who answered me when I was in trouble and has stuck with me everywhere I've gone since."

Genesis 35:4
They turned over to Jacob all the alien gods they'd been holding on to, along with their lucky-charm earrings. Jacob buried them under the oak tree in Shechem. Then they set out. A paralyzing fear descended on all the surrounding villages so that they were unable to pursue the sons of Jacob.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... At the same time, or he continued his speech unto him:

saying: as follows.