The Cities Assigned to the Levites

¹In the plains of Moab across the Jordan from Jericho the Lord said to Moses,

²“Tell the Israelites that from the property they receive they must give the Levites some cities to live in and pasture land around the cities.

³These cities will belong to the Levites, and they will live there. The pasture land will be for their cattle and all their other animals.

⁴The pasture land is to extend outward from the city walls five hundred yards in each direction,

⁵so that there is a square area measuring one thousand yards on each side, with the city in the middle.

⁶You are to give the Levites six cities of refuge to which any of you can escape if you kill someone accidentally. In addition, give them forty-two other cities

⁷with their pasture land, making a total of forty-eight.

⁸The number of Levite cities in each tribe is to be determined according to the size of its territory.”

The Cities of Refuge

⁹The Lord told Moses

¹⁰to say to the people of Israel: “When you cross the Jordan River and enter the land of Canaan,

¹¹you are to choose cities of refuge to which any of you can escape if you kill someone accidentally.

¹²There you will be safe from the dead person's relative who seeks revenge. No one accused of manslaughter is to be put to death without a public trial.

¹³Choose six cities,

¹⁴three east of the Jordan and three in the land of Canaan.

¹⁵These will serve as cities of refuge for Israelites and for foreigners who are temporary or permanent residents. Anyone who kills someone accidentally can escape to one of them.

^16-18“If, however, any of you use a weapon of iron or stone or wood to kill someone, you are guilty of murder and are to be put to death.

¹⁹The dead person's nearest relative has the responsibility for putting the murderer to death. When he finds you, he is to kill you.

²⁰“If you hate someone and kill him by pushing him down or by throwing something at him

²¹or by striking him with your fist, you are guilty of murder and are to be put to death. The dead person's nearest relative has the responsibility for putting the murderer to death. When he finds you, he is to kill you.

²²“But suppose you accidentally kill someone you do not hate, whether by pushing him down or by throwing something at him.

²³Or suppose that, without looking, you throw a stone that kills someone whom you did not intend to hurt and who was not your enemy.

²⁴In such cases the community shall judge in your favor and not in favor of the dead person's relative who is seeking revenge.

²⁵You are guilty only of manslaughter, and the community is to rescue you from the dead person's relative, and they are to return you to the city of refuge to which you had escaped. You must live there until the death of the man who is then High Priest.

²⁶If you leave the city of refuge to which you have escaped

²⁷and if the dead person's relative finds you and kills you, this act of revenge is not murder.

²⁸Any of you guilty of manslaughter must remain in the city of refuge until the death of the High Priest, but after that you may return home.

²⁹These rules apply to you and your descendants wherever you may live.

³⁰“Those accused of murder may be found guilty and put to death only on the evidence of two or more witnesses; the evidence of one witness is not sufficient to support an accusation of murder.

³¹Murderers must be put to death. They cannot escape this penalty by the payment of money.

³²If they have fled to a city of refuge, do not allow them to make a payment in order to return home before the death of the High Priest.

³³If you did this, you would defile the land where you are living. Murder defiles the land, and except by the death of the murderer there is no way to perform the ritual of purification for the land where someone has been murdered.

³⁴Do not defile the land where you are living, because I am the Lord and I live among the people of Israel.”

The Inheritance of Married Women

¹The heads of the families in the clan of Gilead, the son of Machir and grandson of Manasseh son of Joseph, went to Moses and the other leaders.

²They said, “The Lord commanded you to distribute the land to the people of Israel by drawing lots. He also commanded you to give the property of our relative Zelophehad to his daughters.

³But remember, if they marry men of another tribe, their property will then belong to that tribe, and the total allotted to us will be reduced.

⁴In the Year of Restoration, when all property that has been sold is restored to its original owners, the property of Zelophehad's daughters will be permanently added to the tribe into which they marry and will be lost to our tribe.”

⁵So Moses gave the people of Israel the following command from the Lord. He said, “What the tribe of Manasseh says is right,

⁶and so the Lord says that the daughters of Zelophehad are free to marry anyone they wish but only within their own tribe.

⁷The property of every Israelite will remain attached to his tribe.

⁸Every woman who inherits property in an Israelite tribe must marry a man belonging to that tribe. In this way all Israelites will inherit the property of their ancestors,

⁹and the property will not pass from one tribe to another. Each tribe will continue to possess its own property.”

^10-11So Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, did as the Lord had commanded Moses, and they married their cousins.

¹²They married within the clans of the tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph, and their property remained in their father's tribe.

¹³These are the rules and regulations that the Lord gave the Israelites through Moses in the plains of Moab across the Jordan River from Jericho.

The Death of Moses

¹Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Mount Pisgah east of Jericho, and there the Lord showed him the whole land: the territory of Gilead as far north as the town of Dan;

²the entire territory of Naphtali; the territories of Ephraim and Manasseh; the territory of Judah as far west as the Mediterranean Sea;

³the southern part of Judah; and the plain that reaches from Zoar to Jericho, the city of palm trees.

⁴Then the Lord said to Moses, “This is the land that I promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob I would give to their descendants. I have let you see it, but I will not let you go there.”

⁵So Moses, the Lord's servant, died there in the land of Moab, as the Lord had said he would.

⁶The Lord buried him in a valley in Moab, opposite the town of Bethpeor, but to this day no one knows the exact place of his burial.

⁷Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died; he was as strong as ever, and his eyesight was still good.

⁸The people of Israel mourned for him for thirty days in the plains of Moab.

⁹Joshua son of Nun was filled with wisdom, because Moses had appointed him to be his successor. The people of Israel obeyed Joshua and kept the commands that the Lord had given them through Moses.

¹⁰There has never been a prophet in Israel like Moses; the Lord spoke with him face-to-face.

¹¹No other prophet has ever done miracles and wonders like those that the Lord sent Moses to perform against the king of Egypt, his officials, and the entire country.

¹²No other prophet has been able to do the great and terrifying things that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.

The Lord Our Protector

¹I look to the mountains; where will my help come from?

²My help will come from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

³He will not let you fall; your protector is always awake.

⁴The protector of Israel never dozes or sleeps.

⁵The Lord will guard you; he is by your side to protect you.

⁶The sun will not hurt you during the day, nor the moon during the night.

⁷The Lord will protect you from all danger; he will keep you safe.

⁸He will protect you as you come and go now and forever.