The Borders of Canaan

34 The Lord spoke to Moses. He said, ²“Give this command to the people of Israel: You are coming to the land of Canaan. You will defeat this country. You will take the whole land of Canaan. ³On the south, you will get part of the Zin desert near Edom. Your southern border will start at the southern end of the Dead Sea. ⁴It will cross south of Scorpion Pass. It will go through the Zin desert to Kadesh Barnea, and then to Hazar Addar and then it will pass through Azmon. ⁵From Azmon, the border will go to the River of Egypt,* and it will end at the Mediterranean Sea. ⁶Your western border will be the Mediterranean Sea. ⁷Your northern border will begin at the Mediterranean Sea and go to Mount Hor (in Lebanon). ⁸From Mount Hor, it will go to Lebo Hamath, and then to Zedad. ⁹Then that border will go to Ziphron and it will end at Hazar Enan. So that will be your northern border. ¹⁰Your eastern border will begin at Enan and it will go to Shepham. ¹¹From Shepham, the border will go east of Ain to Riblah. The border will continue along the hills by Lake Galilee.* ¹²Then the border will continue along the Jordan River. It will end at the Dead Sea. Those are the borders around your country.” ¹³So Moses gave this command to the people of Israel, “That is the land that you will get. You will throw lots* to divide the land among the nine family groups and half of Manasseh’s family group. ¹⁴Reuben’s and Gad’s family groups, and half of Manasseh’s family group have already taken their land. ¹⁵Those two and a half family groups took the land near Jericho—they took the land east of the Jordan River.” ¹⁶Then the Lord spoke to Moses. He said, ¹⁷“These are the men who will help you divide the land: Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, ¹⁸and the leaders of all the family groups. There will be one leader from each family group. Those men will divide the land. ¹⁹These are the names of the leaders: from Judah’s family group—Caleb son of Jephunneh; ²⁰from Simeon’s family group—Shemuel son of Ammihud; ²¹from Benjamin’s family group—Elidad son of Kislon; ²²from Dan’s family group—Bukki son of Jogli; ²³from Joseph’s descendants from Manasseh’s family group—Hanniel son of Ephod; ²⁴from Ephraim’s family group—Kemuel son of Shiphtan; ²⁵from Zebulun’s family group—Elizaphan son of Parnach; ²⁶from Issachar’s family group—Paltiel son of Azzan; ²⁷from Asher’s family group—Ahihud son of Shelomi; ²⁸from Naphtali’s family group—Pedahel son of Ammihud.” ²⁹The Lord chose those men to divide the land of Canaan among the people of Israel.

River of Egypt That is, the stream called, “Wadi El-Arish.” Lake Galilee Literally, “Kinnereth Lake.” lots Sticks, stones, or pieces of bone used like dice for making decisions. See Proverbs 16:33.

The Levites’ Towns

35 The Lord spoke to Moses. This was in the Jordan Valley in Moab, near the Jordan River, across from Jericho. The Lord said, ²“Tell the people of Israel that they should give some of the cities in their part of the land to the Levites. The people of Israel should give those cities and the pastures around them to the Levites. ³The Levites will be able to live in those cities. And all the cows and other animals that belong to the Levites will be able to eat from the pastures around those cities. ⁴{How much of your land should you give to the Levites?} From the walls of the cities, go out 1,500 feet* —all of that land will belong to the Levites. ⁵{Also} all of the land 3,000 feet* east of the city, and 3,000 feet south of the city, and 3,000 feet west of the city, and 3,000 feet north of the city will belong to the Levites. (The city will be in the middle of all that land.) ⁶Six of those cities will be cities of safety. If a person {accidentally} kills someone, then that person can run to those towns for safety. In addition to those six cities, you will also give 42 more cities to the Levites. ⁷So you will give a total of 48 cities to the Levites. You will also give them the land around those cities. ⁸The large families of Israel {will get large pieces of land}. The small families of Israel {will get small pieces of land}. So the large family groups will give more cities and the small family groups will give fewer cities to the Levites.” ⁹Then the Lord spoke to Moses. He said, ¹⁰“Tell the people these things: You people will cross the Jordan River and go into the land of Canaan. ¹¹You 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. ¹²That 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. ¹³There will be six cities of safety. ¹⁴Three of those cities will be east of the Jordan River. And three of those cities will be in the land of Canaan, {west of the Jordan River}. ¹⁵Those cities will be places of safety for citizens of Israel, and for foreigners and travelers. Any of those people will be able to run to one of those cities if he accidentally kills someone. ¹⁶“If a person uses an iron weapon* to kill someone, then that person must die. ¹⁷And if a person takes a rock and kills someone, then that person must die. (But the rock must be the size of rock that would normally be used for killing people.) ¹⁸And 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.) ¹⁹A member of the dead man’s family* can chase that murderer and kill him. ^20–21“A person might hit someone with his hand and kill him. Or a person might push someone and kill him. Or a person might throw something at someone and kill him. If the killer did that from hate, then he is a murderer. That person must be killed. A member of the dead man’s family* can chase that murderer and kill him. ²²“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. ²³Or 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. ²⁴If 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* can kill that person. ²⁵If the community decides to protect the killer from the dead man’s family, then the community must take him back to his city of safety. And the killer must stay there until the official high priest* dies. ^26–27“That man must never go outside the limits of his city of safety. If he goes outside those limits, and if a member of the dead man’s family* catches him and kills him, then that member won’t be guilty of murder. ²⁸The person who accidentally killed someone must stay in his city of safety until the high priest dies. After the high priest dies, that person can go back to his own land. ²⁹Those rules will be the law forever in all of the towns of your people. ³⁰“A killer should be put to death as a murderer only if there are witnesses. No person can be put to death if there is only one witness. ³¹“If a person is a murderer, then he must be put to death. Don’t take money and change his punishment. That murderer must be killed. ³²“If a person killed someone and then ran to one of the cities of safety, then don’t take money to let him go home. That person must stay in that city until the high priest dies. ³³“Don’t let your land be ruined with innocent blood. If a person murders someone, then the only payment for that crime is that the murderer must be killed! There is no other payment that will free the land from that crime. ³⁴I am the Lord! I will be living in your country with the people of Israel. I will be living there, so don’t make it unclean* {with the blood of innocent people}.”

1,500 feet Literally, “1,000 cubits.” The people probably let their sheep and cows use this land. 3,000 feet Literally, “2,000 cubits.” The Levites probably used this land for gardens and vineyards. iron weapon This shows the murderer chose a weapon he knew could kill the other person. member of the dead man’s family Literally, “the blood avenger.” Usually, this was a friend or family member that would chase a dead man’s murderer and kill him. official high priest Literally, “the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil.” unclean Not pure or not acceptable to God for worship.