Numbers 35:22

Contemporary English Version (Anglicised) 2012

But if you are not angry and accidentally kill someone in any of these ways, the townspeople must hold a trial and decide if you are guilty.

Cross References

Exodus 21:13

But if you did not intend to kill someone, and I, the LORD, let it happen anyway, you may run for safety to a place that I have set aside.

Numbers 35:11

choose Safe Towns, where a person who has accidentally killed someone can run for protection.

Numbers 35:20

Or suppose you get angry and kill someone by pushing or hitting or by throwing something. You are a murderer and must be put to death by one of the victim's relatives.

Deuteronomy 19:5

For example, suppose you and a friend go into the forest to cut wood. You are chopping down a tree with an axe, when the axe head slips off the handle, hits your friend, and kills him. You can run to one of the Safe Towns and save your life.

Joshua 20:3

If a person accidentally kills someone and the victim's relatives say it was murder, they might try to take revenge. Anyone accused of murder can run to one of the Safe Towns and be safe from the victim's relatives. The one needing protection will stand at the entrance to the town gate and explain to the town leaders what happened. Then the leaders will bring that person in and provide a place to live in their town.

Joshua 20:5

One of the victim's relatives might come to the town, looking for revenge. But the town leaders must not simply hand over the person accused of murder. After all, the accused and the victim had been neighbours, not enemies.