Bible Strands
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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses addresses the Israelite assembly, instructing them to designate six cities as places of asylum after dividing them three east and three west of the Jordan.
The words — גֵּר (Ger) denotes a sojourner and תּוֹשָׁב (to.Shav) denotes a resident alien, both terms specifying non-native inhabitants granted legal standing.
The thread — The principle of uniform legal treatment for natives and foreigners recurs in Numbers 15:16, Exodus 12:49, and Leviticus 24:22.
Why it lands — The text requires readers to recognize that legal protections and asylum rights apply without ethnic distinction, mandating equal treatment under the law for all residents.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
These six cities shall be a refuge, both for the children of Israel, and for the stranger, and for the sojourner among them: that every one that killeth any person unawares may flee thither.
Cross-references
- Numbers 15:16 The same law and the same ordinance will apply both to you and to the foreigner residing with you.”
- Exodus 12:49 The same law shall apply to both the native and the foreigner who resides among you.”
- Leviticus 24:22 You are to have the same standard of law for the foreign resident and the native; for I am the LORD your God.’”
- Romans 3:29 Is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too,
- Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.