Bible Strands
Numbers 35:26
But if the manslayer ever goes outside the limits of the city of refuge to which he fled
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses addresses the Israelite assembly in the plains of Moab, concluding the conquest narrative by detailing legal provisions for accidental killers. The passage establishes the geographic boundary that determines whether the manslayer remains under judicial protection.
The words — The doubled verb יָצֹא יֵצֵא (ya.Tzo' ye.Tze') intensifies the prohibition against exiting the designated area. The noun גְּבוּל (ge.Vul) specifies the exact territorial limit of the עִיר מִקְלָטוֹ (ir mik.la.to), the city of his refuge.
The thread — This boundary rule is replicated in Joshua 20:2-7, which commands the Israelites to designate the same refuge cities and maintain the identical escape restriction. The geographic limit also aligns with Deuteronomy 19:2-3, where the establishment of these cities requires setting aside specific territorial borders.
Why it lands — The text makes the manslayer’s physical location the sole condition for his legal safety, removing subjective judgment from the equation. It requires the reader to accept that divine protection operates through fixed, observable boundaries rather than personal circumstances.
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
But if the slayer shall at any time come without the border of the city of his refuge, whither he was fled;