Numbers 35:34

34 You will not make the land in which you live unclean, the land in the middle of which I reside, for I the LORD reside among the Israelites.

Numbers 35:34 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 35:34

Defile not therefore the land which ye shall inherit
By the commission of such atrocious crimes, or suffering them to go unpunished, or by taking a compensation for the life of the guilty person:

wherein I dwell;
which is added to strengthen the exhortation, and as giving a reason why care should be taken not to pollute it, because the Holy God dwells there; as he did in the tabernacle erected for him, and in such a peculiar manner as he did not in other lands:

for I the Lord dwell among the children of Israel;
he now dwelt among them as their God, and their King; his tent or tabernacle being pitched in the midst of the camps of Israel; and so he would continue to dwell among them when they were come to the land of Canaan, so long as they observed his laws, statutes, and ordinances; and therefore it behoved them to be careful that they did not pollute themselves and their land, and cause him to depart from them.

Numbers 35:34 In-Context

32 You may not accept a ransom for someone who has fled to his refuge city so that he can return and live in the land before the priest's death.

33 You may not pollute the land in which you live, for the blood pollutes the land. There can be no recovery for the land from the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it.

34 You will not make the land in which you live unclean, the land in the middle of which I reside, for I the LORD reside among the Israelites.