Numbers 35:22-34 ▼

22 |But if he pushed him suddenly without hatred, or if he hurled something in his direction without waiting in ambush,

23 or if he hit him with a stone carelessly so that he was fatally injured, though he isn't his enemy and he wasn't seeking to commit evil against him,

24 then the community is to judge between the inadvertent killer and the blood avenger, following these ordinances.

25 The community is to release the inadvertent killer from the blood avenger and return him to the town of refuge where he had fled. He is to live there until the High Priest dies, who will have anointed him with holy oil.

26 But if the inadvertent killer leaves the town of refuge where he had fled

27 and the blood avenger finds him outside the town of refuge where he had fled and kills him, the blood avenger is not to be found guilty of murder.

28 The inadvertent killer is to live in the town of refuge until the High Priest dies. After the death of the High Priest, the inadvertent killer is to return to the land of his inheritance.

29 These are to be the statutes and ordinances for you throughout all your generations, regardless of where you live.|

30 |Every murderer of a human being is to be executed only according to testimony given by multiple witnesses. A single witness is not to result in a death sentence.

31 You are to receive no ransom for the life of a killer who is guilty of murder; instead, he is to die.

32 You are not to receive payment of a ransom for someone who had fled to a town of refuge but then left to live in his homeland before the death of the high priest.

33 You are not to pollute the land where you live, because blood defiles the land, and the land cannot atone for blood that has been spilled on it, except through the blood of the one who spilled it.

34 You are not to defile the land where you will be living, because I'm living among you. I am the LORD, who lives in Israel.|