Study Desk

but your servants, everyone who is armed for war, will cross over in the presence of Yahweh to battle, just as my lord says."

And Moses said to them, "If the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben, everyone who is armed for battle, will cross with you over the Jordan in the presence of Yahweh, and the land is subdued before you, then you shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession;

and Beth-nimrah and Beth-haran as fortified cities, and sheepfolds for sheep.

and you shall take possession of the land and inhabit it, for I have given the land to you to possess it.

‘And as for the west border, you shall have the Great Sea, that is, its coastline; this shall be your west border.

‘For your east border you shall also draw a line from Hazar-enan to Shepham,

For the tribe of the sons of Reuben have received theirs according to their fathers' households, and the tribe of the sons of Gad according to their fathers' households, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance.

"These are the names of the men who shall apportion the land to you for inheritance: Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun.

And you shall take one leader of every tribe to apportion the land for inheritance.

And the cities shall be theirs to live in; and their pasture lands shall be for their cattle and for their herds and for all their beasts.

You shall also measure outside the city on the east side two thousand cubits, and on the south side two thousand cubits, and on the west side two thousand cubits, and on the north side two thousand cubits, with the city in the center. This shall become theirs as pasture lands for the cities.

And the cities which you shall give to the Levites shall be the six cities of refuge, which you shall give for the manslayer to flee to; and in addition to them you shall give forty-two cities.

Now as for the cities which you shall give from the possession of the sons of Israel, you shall take more from the larger, and you shall take less from the smaller; each shall give some of his cities to the Levites in proportion to his possession which he inherits."

then you shall select for yourselves cities to be your cities of refuge, that the manslayer who has struck down any person unintentionally may flee there.

And the cities shall be for you as a refuge from the avenger, so that the manslayer will not die until he stands before the congregation for judgment.

These six cities shall be for refuge for the sons of Israel and for the sojourner and for the foreign resident among them; that anyone who strikes a person down unintentionally may flee there.

‘And these things shall be for a statutory judgment to you throughout your generations in all your places of habitation.

Moreover, you shall not take ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall surely be put to death.

And you shall not take ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge, that he may return to live in the land before the death of the priest.

So you shall not pollute the land in which you are; for blood pollutes the land, and no propitiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it.