The cities that you are to give will be your six cities of refuge.

To the {Israelites}, to the alien, and to the temporary resident in their midst there will be these six cities as a refuge to which anyone who unintentionally kills a person may flee.

" 'But if he hit him with an object of iron, so that he dies, the killer must surely be put to death.

And if he hit him with a stone in the hand, by which he will die, and he does die, he [is] a killer; the killer must surely be put to death.

Or if he hit him with a wooden object, by which he will die, and he does die, he [is] a killer; the killer must surely be put to death.

The blood avenger himself will put the killer to death; he must put him to death when meeting him.

or if he hits him in hostility with his hand, and he dies, the one that struck him will put to death the killer when meeting him.

then the community will judge between the striker and between the blood avenger according to these ordinances.

The community will deliver the killer from the hand of the blood avenger, and the community will restore him to the city of his refuge to which he fled; and he will live there in it until the death of the high priest who was anointed with holy oil.

But if the killer surely goes out of the territory of the city of his refuge to which he fled,

because he must live in the city of his refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest the killer will return to the land of his property.

" 'If anyone kills a person, the killer will be put to death {according to the testimony} of witnesses, but someone cannot die on testimony of one person.

Also, you will not take a ransom payment for the life of a killer who [is] guilty of death; indeed, he must surely be put to death.

You will not take a ransom payment for the one that flees to the city of his refuge, so that he may return to live in the land before the death of the priest.

And they said, "Yahweh commanded my lord to give the land by lot as an inheritance to the {Israelites}, and my lord was commanded by Yahweh to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother to his daughters.

But if they become wives to one of the sons from [another] tribe of the {Israelites}, their inheritance will disappear from the inheritance of our ancestors, and it will be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they belong; the lot of our inheritance would disappear.

When the Jubilee of the {Israelites} {comes}, it will be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they belong; and their inheritance will disappear from the tribe of our father."

Thus an inheritance of the {Israelites} will not go around from tribe to tribe. Rather, the inheritance of each tribe of his father will remain with the {Israelites}.

Therefore an inheritance will not go around from [one] tribe to another tribe because the tribes of the {Israelites} will each hold to their [own] inheritance.'"

Just as Yahweh commanded to Moses, so the daughters of Zelophehad did:

These [were] the commands and the stipulations that Yahweh commanded by the hand of Moses to the {Israelites} on the desert-plateaus of Moab by the Jordan [across] Jericho.

These [are] the words that Moses spoke to all [of] Israel {on the other side of} the Jordan in the desert, in the desert plateau opposite Suph, between Paran and between Tophel and Laban and Hazeroth and Dizahab.

It is [a journey of] {eleven days} from Herob {by the way of Mount Seir} up to Kadesh Barnea.

{And it was} in the fortieth year, on the eleventh month, on [the] first [day] of the month, Moses spoke to the {Israelites} according to all that Yahweh had instructed him [to speak] to them.

On the other side of the Jordan in the land of Moab Moses began to explain this law, {saying}:

"Yahweh our God spoke to us at Horeb, {saying}, 'You have stayed {long enough} at this mountain.

Turn [now] and {move on}, and go [into] the hill of the Amorites and to all [of] the neighboring regions in the Jordan {Valley} in the hill country and in the Negev and in the coastal area along the sea, [into] the land of the Canaanites and [into] the Lebanon, as far as the great river Euphrates.

Look, I have set the land {before you}; go and take possession of the land that Yahweh swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give [it] to them and to their offspring after them.'

"And I spoke to them at that time, {saying}, 'I am not able to bear you alone.

Yahweh, the God of your ancestors, may he add to you as you are [now] a thousand times, and may he bless you just as he {promised you}.

"And you answered me, and you said, 'The thing you have said to do is good.'

You must not {be partial} {in your judgment}; hear [out] the small [person] as [also] the great [person]; {do not be intimidated by any person}, because the judgment [is] God's; and the case that is too difficult for you, bring [it] to me, and I will hear it [out].'

And so I instructed you at that time [concerning] all [of] the things that you should do.

"Then we set out from Horeb, and we went [through] the whole [of] that great and terrible desert that you saw [on] the way [to] the hill country of the Amorites as Yahweh our God had commanded us, and [so] we came up to Kadesh Barnea.

I said to you, '{You have reached} the hill country of the Amorites that Yahweh our God [is] giving to us.

See, Yahweh your God has set before you the land; go up and possess [it] as Yahweh the God of your ancestors said to you; do not fear and do not be dismayed.'

"Then all of you approached me, and [you] said, 'Let us send men {before us}, and let them explore the land for us, and let them bring back {a report} to us [concerning] the way that {we should take} [and concerning] the cities that we shall come to.'

And they {set out} and {went up into the hill country}, and they went up to the wadi of Eschol, and they spied out [the land].

They took in their hands {some of the fruit} of the land, and they brought [it] down to us, and they brought to us back {a report}, and they said, 'The land that Yahweh our God [is] giving to us [is] good.'

But you were not willing to go up, and you rebelled against the {command} of Yahweh your God.

And you grumbled in your tents, and you said, 'Because of the hatred of Yahweh [toward] us he has brought us out from the land of Egypt to give us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us.

Where [can] we go up? Our brothers have {made our hearts melt}, {saying}, "The people are greater and taller than we are, [and there are] great fortified cities [reaching] up to heaven, and we saw the sons of the Anakites [living] there." '

"And so I said to you, 'Do not be terrified, and do not fear them.

{who goes} {before you} on your way, seeking a place for your encampment, in fire at night and in a cloud by day, to show you the way that {you should go}.

'No one of these men of this evil generation will see the good land that I swore to give to your ancestors,

except Caleb, the son of Jephunneh; he himself shall see it, and to him I will give the land upon which he has trodden and to his sons because {he followed Yahweh unreservedly}.'

Joshua, the son of Nun, {your assistant}, will go there; encourage him because he will cause Israel to inherit it.

And your little children, who you thought shall become plunder, and your sons, who do not today know good or bad, shall themselves go there, and I will give it to them, and they shall take possession of it.

"You replied and said to me, 'We have sinned against Yahweh, [and now] we will go up and fight according to all that Yahweh our God commanded us'; and [so] each man fastened on {his battle gear}, and you regarded [it] as easy to go up [into] the hill country.

So Yahweh said to me, 'Say to them, "You shall not go up, and you shall not fight because I am not in your midst; you will be defeated {before} your enemies." '

So I spoke to you, but you did not listen; you rebelled against the {command of Yahweh}; you behaved presumptuously, and you went up into the hill country.

The Amorites living in the hill country went out {to oppose you} and chased you as [a swarm of] wild honey bees do; and [so] they {beat} you down in Seir as far as Hormah.

So you returned and wept {before Yahweh}; but Yahweh did not listen to your voice and did not pay [any] attention to you.

Yahweh spoke to me, {saying},

and instruct the people, {saying}, "You [are] about to cross [through] the territory of your brothers, the descendants of Esau, who are living in Seir; they will be afraid of you, and [so] be very careful.

Do not get involved in battle with them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even {a foot's breadth} [of it]; since I have given Mount Seir [as] a possession for Esau.

The fact of the matter is, Yahweh your God has blessed you in {all the work you have done}; he knows {your travels} [with respect to] this great wilderness; forty years Yahweh your God [has been] with you; you have not lacked a thing." '

And Yahweh said to me, 'You shall not attack Moab, and you shall not engage in war with them, for I will not give you any of his land [as] a possession; I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot [as] a possession.'

The Horites previously lived in Seir, but the descendants of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them {from among themselves}, as Israel did with respect to the land of their possession that Yahweh gave to them.)

Now the {length of time} that we had traveled from Kadesh Barnea until [the time when] we crossed the wadi of Zered [was] thirty-eight years, until the perishing of all of that generation; [that is], the men of war from the midst of the camp as Yahweh had sworn to them.

The hand of Yahweh was against them to root them out from the midst of the camp until they perished completely.

Yahweh spoke to me, {saying},

'You [are] about to cross over the boundary of Moab {today} at Ar.

When you approach {the border of} the {Ammonites}, you shall not harass them, and you shall not get involved in battle with them, for I have not given the land of {the Ammonites} to you as a possession; because I have given it to the descendants of Lot [as] a possession.

just as he did for the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites from {before them} and dispossessed them, and [then] they settled in their place up to this day.

Arise, set out and cross [over] the wadi of Arnon. Look! I have given Sihon the Amorite, the king of Heshbon, and his land into your hand; begin to take possession of [it], and engage with him in battle.

This day I will begin to place {the dread of you} and the fear of you {before} the peoples under all the heavens. [They] will hear {the report about you}, and [so] they will shake and tremble {because of you}.'

"So I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon; [I sent] terms of peace, {saying},

'Let me cross through your land [and] {only along the road} I will go; I will not turn aside to the right or [to the] left.

Food for money you shall sell me, so that I may eat, and water for money you will give to me, so that I may drink; just let me cross on foot.

[Just as] the descendants of Esau did for me, who live in Seir, and the Moabites, who live in Ar, until I cross the Jordan into the land that Yahweh our God is giving to us.'

But Sihon king of Heshbon was not willing to let us cross through his [territory] because Yahweh your God hardened his spirit and {made him obstinate} {in order to give him} into your hand, {just as he has now done}.

Yahweh said to me, 'Look! I have begun to give {over to you} Sihon and his land; begin {to take possession of his land}.'

Then Sihon and all his people came out to meet us for battle at Jahaz.

And so Yahweh our God gave him over {to us}, and we struck him down, and his sons and all of his people.

From Aroer, which [is] on the edge of the wadi of Arnon and the city that [was] in the wadi on up to Gilead, [there] was not a city that was inaccessible to us; Yahweh our God gave {everything} {to us}.

Only the land of {the Ammonites} you did not approach, [all along] the whole upper region of the Jabbok {River} and the towns of the hill country, [according to all] that Yahweh our God had instructed.

"Then we turned, and we went up the road to Bashan, and Og the king of Bashan came out to meet us, he and all [of] his army for the battle [at] Edrei.

And Yahweh said to me, 'You should not fear him, for I have given him and all [of] his army and his land into your hand. And [so] you will do to him as you did to Sihon the king of the Amorites, who [was] reigning in Heshbon.'

And [so] Yahweh our God also gave Og the king of Bashan, and all of his army into our hand, and we struck him down until not a survivor remained to him.

And [so] we destroyed them just as we had done to Sihon the king of Heshbon; [we destroyed] utterly each town of males, the women, and the little children.

"And so we took at that time the land from {the control of} [the] two kings of the Amorites who [were] {on the other side of the Jordan}, from the wadi of Arnon up to {Mount Hermon}.

All of the towns of the plateau and the whole of Gilead and all of Bashan up to Salecah and Edrei, the towns of the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

(For only Og, king of Bashan, was left from the remnant of the Rephaim. Indeed, his bedstead--it [was] a bedstead of iron. It is in Rabbah of the {Ammonites}. Nine cubits [is] its length, and four cubits [is] its width according to the cubit of a man.)

And [so] we took possession of this land at that time, from Aroer, which [is] on the [edge of the] wadi of Arnon, and [also] half of the hill country of Gilead and its towns I gave to the Reubenites and to the Gadites.

And the remainder of Gilead and all of Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh, the whole region of Argo. All of that [area of] Bashan was called [the] land of the Rephaim.

Jair the descendant of Manasseh acquired the whole region of Argob, up to the boundary of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and he called it, [that is] Bashan, after his [own] name, Havvoth Jair, {as it still is today}.

And [also] I gave Gilead to Makir.

And to the Reubenites and to the Gadites I gave, from Gilead up to the wadi of Arnon, the middle of the wadi [as a] boundary and up to the Jabbok {River}, the boundary of the {Ammonites}.

And the {Jordan Valley} [with] the Jordan [River as its] boundary, from Kinnereth up to the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, [with] the slopes of Pisgah toward the east.

"And I charged you [all] at that time [when I] said, "Yahweh has given you--to [all of] you--this land to possess. All the {warriors} shall cross over, ready to fight, before your brothers, the {Israelites}.

until Yahweh shall give rest to your brothers as [he did] to you, and also they take possession [of] the land that Yahweh your God [is] giving to them beyond the Jordan; then they may return, each [one] to his possession that I have given to them.

And I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, 'Your eyes see all that Yahweh your God has done to these two kings; so Yahweh will do to all [of] the kingdoms where you are about to cross over to.

'Lord Yahweh, you have begun to show your servant your greatness and your strong hand, for what god [is there] in the heaven or on the earth who can do according to your works and according to your mighty deeds?

But Yahweh was very angry with me because of you, and he would not listen to me, and Yahweh said, '{Enough of that from you}! You shall not speak to me [any] longer about this matter!

Go up [to] the top of Pisgah and {look around you} toward the west, toward the north, and toward the east, and {view} [the land] with your eyes, for you will not cross this Jordan.

Now instruct Joshua and support him and encourage him because he himself will cross [over] before this people and enable them to inherit the land that you will see.'

"Now, Israel, listen to the rules and to the regulations that I [am] teaching you to do, in order that you may live and you may go [in] and you may take possession of the land that Yahweh, the God of your ancestors, [is] giving to you.

You must not add to the word that I [am] commanding you, and you shall not take away from it [in order] to keep the commands of Yahweh your God that I [am] commanding you [to observe].

But you, the [ones] holding fast to Yahweh your God, [are] all alive {today}.