Look, you are forcing me to leave my land. I won’t be able to see you or be near you! I won’t have a home! I will be forced to wander from place to place on the earth. And whoever finds me will kill me.”
Numbers 35:19 - Easy To Read Version A member of the dead man’s family [386] can chase that murderer and kill him. Tuilleadh leaganachaKing James Version (Oxford) 1769 The revenger of blood himself shall slay the murderer: when he meeteth him, he shall slay him. Amplified Bible - Classic Edition The avenger of blood shall himself slay the murderer; when he meets him, he shall slay him. American Standard Version (1901) The avenger of blood shall himself put the murderer to death: when he meeteth him, he shall put him to death. Common English Bible The close relative responsible for the blood of the dead is the one who will put the murderer to death. When he meets him, he will execute him. Catholic Public Domain Version The close relative of the deceased shall put to death the murderer; as soon as he apprehends him, he shall put him to death. Douay-Rheims version of The Bible - 1752 version The kinsman of him that was slain shall kill the murderer: as soon as he apprehendeth him, he shall kill him. |
Look, you are forcing me to leave my land. I won’t be able to see you or be near you! I won’t have a home! I will be forced to wander from place to place on the earth. And whoever finds me will kill me.”
The woman said, “Please, use the name of the Lord your God and swear (promise) that you will stop those people. They want to punish my son for murdering his brother. Swear that you won’t let them destroy my son.”
Now the whole family is against me. They said to me, ‘Bring us the son who killed his brother and we will kill him. Why? Because he killed his brother.’ My son is like the last spark of a fire. If they kill my son, then that fire will burn out and be finished. He is the only son left alive to get his father’s property. So my {dead} husband’s property will go to someone else and his name will be removed from the land.”
When Abner arrived at Hebron, Joab took him to one side in the middle of the gateway to talk with him in private. And then Joab stabbed Abner in the stomach, and Abner died. Abner had killed Joab’s brother Asahel. So now Joab killed Abner.
Joab and his brother Abishai killed Abner because Abner had killed their brother Asahel in the battle at Gibeon.
That person will be safe from anyone from the dead man’s family that wants to get even. That person will be safe until he is judged in court.
And if a person uses a piece of wood to kills someone, then that person must die. (The piece of wood must be a weapon that people normally use for killing people.)
If that happens, then the community must decide what to do. The community’s court must decide if a member of the dead man’s family [388] can kill that person.
If that happens, then the elders (leaders) in that man’s home town must send someone to get him and take him away from the city of safety. Those leaders must give that man to the close relative. [125] The murderer must die.
But if the city is too far away, he might not be able to run there fast enough. A close relative [123] of the person he killed might run after him and catch him before he reaches the city. The close relative might be very angry and kill the man. But the man did not deserve death. He did not hate the person he killed.
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.
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.
Gideon said, “Those men were my brothers! My mother’s sons! As the Lord lives, if you had not killed them, then I wouldn’t kill you now.”