Numbers 35:22

Easy To Read Version

“But a person might accidentally kill someone. That person didn’t hate the person he killed—it was only an accident. Or a person might throw something and accidentally kill someone—he didn’t plan to kill anyone.

Cross References

Exodus 21:13

But if an accident happens, and a person kills someone without planning it, then God allowed that thing to happen. I will choose some special places where people can run for safety. So that person can run to one of those places.

Numbers 35:11

You must choose towns to be cities of safety. If a person accidentally kills another person, then that person can run to one of those cities for safety.

Numbers 35:23

Or a person might throw a rock. And that rock might fall on someone that person didn’t see and the rock might kill that person. That person didn’t plan to kill anyone. That person didn’t hate the person he killed—it was only an accident.

Deuteronomy 19:5

Here is an example: A man goes into the forest with another person to cut wood. The man swings his axe to cut down a tree, but the head of the axe separates from the handle. The axe head hits the other person and kills him. The man who swung the axe may then run to one of those three cities and be safe.

Joshua 20:3

If any person kills another person, but it is an accident and he did not mean to kill that person, then he can go to a city of safety to hide from the relatives who want to kill him.

Joshua 20:5

But the man who is chasing that person might follow him to that city. If this happens, the leaders of the city must not give him up. They must protect the person who came to them for safety because he killed a person by accident. He was not angry and did not plan to kill the person. It was something that just happened.