Numbers 35:33

33 ne polluatis terram habitationis vestrae quae insontium cruore maculatur nec aliter expiari potest nisi per eius sanguinem qui alterius sanguinem fuderit

Numbers 35:33 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 35:33

So ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are
The land of Canaan, as it had been by the old inhabitants of it, by idolatry, adultery, and murder:

for blood it defileth the land:
the shedding of innocent blood defiles a nation, and the inhabitants of it, brings guilt thereon, and subjects to punishment:

and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but
by the blood of him that shed it;
or "there can be no expiation" ^F2, or "atonement made" for it in any other way; the blood of the murderer is required at his hands, and nothing short of it will satisfy law and justice, see ( Genesis 9:6 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F2 (rpky al) "non posset expiatio", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; to the same sense Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version.

Numbers 35:33 In-Context

31 non accipietis pretium ab eo qui reus est sanguinis statim et ipse morietur

32 exules et profugi ante mortem pontificis nullo modo in urbes suas reverti poterunt

33 ne polluatis terram habitationis vestrae quae insontium cruore maculatur nec aliter expiari potest nisi per eius sanguinem qui alterius sanguinem fuderit

34 atque ita emundabitur vestra possessio me commorante vobiscum ego enim sum Dominus qui habito inter filios Israhel