Deuteronomy 4:42

Read in context

Deuteronomy 4:40–44 · Berean Standard Bible

40 Keep His statutes and commandments, which I am giving you today, so that you and your children after you may prosper, and that you may live long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for all time.

41 Then Moses set aside three cities across the Jordan to the east

42 to which a manslayer could flee after killing his neighbor unintentionally without prior malice. To save one’s own life, he could flee to one of these cities:

43 Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau belonging to the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead belonging to the Gadites, or Golan in Bashan belonging to the Manassites.

44 This is the law that Moses set before the Israelites.

Hebrew words

Data created by STEPBible.org based on work at Tyndale House Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Study Deuteronomy 4:42

Read the commentary on Deuteronomy 4

Cross-references

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge lists these related verses. Scripture text comes from the Berean Standard Bible.

Deuteronomy 19:1

When the LORD your God has cut off the nations whose land He is giving you, and when you have driven them out and settled in their cities and houses,

Deuteronomy 19:2

then you are to set apart for yourselves three cities within the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.

Deuteronomy 19:3

You are to build roads for yourselves and divide into three regions the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, so that any manslayer can flee to these cities.

Deuteronomy 19:4

Now this is the situation regarding the manslayer who flees to one of these cities to save his life, having killed his neighbor accidentally, without intending to harm him:

Deuteronomy 19:5

If he goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut timber and swings his axe to chop down a tree, but the blade flies off the handle and strikes and kills his neighbor, he may flee to one of these cities to save his life.

Deuteronomy 19:6

Otherwise, the avenger of blood might pursue the manslayer in a rage, overtake him if the distance is great, and strike him dead though he did not deserve to die, since he did not intend any harm.

Deuteronomy 19:7

This is why I am commanding you to set apart for yourselves three cities.

Deuteronomy 19:8

And if the LORD your God enlarges your territory, as He swore to your fathers, and gives you all the land He promised them,

Deuteronomy 19:9

and if you carefully keep all these commandments I am giving you today, loving the LORD your God and walking in His ways at all times, then you are to add three more cities to these three.

Deuteronomy 19:10

Thus innocent blood will not be shed in the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, so that you will not be guilty of bloodshed.

Numbers 35:6

Six of the cities you give the Levites are to be appointed as cities of refuge, to which a manslayer may flee. In addition to these, give the Levites forty-two other cities.

Numbers 35:11

designate cities to serve as your cities of refuge, so that a person who kills someone unintentionally may flee there.

Numbers 35:12

You are to have these cities as a refuge from the avenger, so that the manslayer will not die until he stands trial before the assembly.

Numbers 35:15

These six cities will serve as a refuge for the Israelites and for the foreigner or stranger among them, so that anyone who kills a person unintentionally may flee there.

Numbers 35:16

If, however, anyone strikes a person with an iron object and kills him, he is a murderer; the murderer must surely be put to death.

Numbers 35:17

Or if anyone has in his hand a stone of deadly size, and he strikes and kills another, he is a murderer; the murderer must surely be put to death.

Numbers 35:18

If anyone has in his hand a deadly object of wood, and he strikes and kills another, he is a murderer; the murderer must surely be put to death.

Numbers 35:19

The avenger of blood is to put the murderer to death; when he finds him, he is to kill him.

Numbers 35:20

Likewise, if anyone maliciously pushes another or intentionally throws an object at him and kills him,

Numbers 35:21

or if in hostility he strikes him with his hand and he dies, the one who struck him must surely be put to death; he is a murderer. When the avenger of blood finds the murderer, he is to kill him.

Numbers 35:22

But if anyone pushes a person suddenly, without hostility, or throws an object at him unintentionally,

Numbers 35:23

or without looking drops a heavy stone that kills him, but he was not an enemy and did not intend to harm him,

Numbers 35:24

then the congregation must judge between the slayer and the avenger of blood according to these ordinances.

Numbers 35:25

The assembly is to protect the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood. Then the assembly will return him to the city of refuge to which he fled, and he must live there until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil.

Numbers 35:26

But if the manslayer ever goes outside the limits of the city of refuge to which he fled

Numbers 35:27

and the avenger of blood finds him outside of his city of refuge and kills him, then the avenger will not be guilty of bloodshed

Numbers 35:28

because the manslayer must remain in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. Only after the death of the high priest may he return to the land he owns.

Hebrews 6:18

Thus by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be strongly encouraged.