Numbers 35:24

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

then the congregation shall judge between the striker and the avenger of blood according to these ordinances;

World English Bible · Public Domain

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גֹּאֵ֣ל

gâʼal

H1350

“redeeming”

Verb, Qal, Participle Active, Masculine, Singular, Construct

Appears 105× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 48:16

Full BDB Definition

Origin: a primitive root

TWOT: 300

to redeem, act as kinsman-redeemer, avenge, revenge, ransom, do the part of a kinsman - (Qal) - to act as kinsman, do the part of next of kin, act as kinsman-redeemer - by marrying brother's widow to beget a child for him, to redeem from slavery, to redeem land, to exact vengeance - to redeem (by payment) - to redeem (with God as subject) - individuals from death - Israel from Egyptian bondage - Israel from exile - (Niphal) - to redeem oneself - to be redeemed

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

10: words
9: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Grammatical profile

3 verbs
3 nouns
1 pronoun
3 prepositions

Verb forms

וְשָֽׁפְטוּ֙ Qal · Sequential Perfect
הַמַּכֶּ֔ה Hiphil · Participle Active
גֹּאֵ֣ל Qal · Participle Active

Repetition

A word recurs within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

בֵּ֚ין between H996 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 17 words from the Hebrew and 17 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — the same length.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 10 Hebrew tokens and 19 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Numbers 35:24 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Joshua 20:6 He shall dwell in that city, until he stand before the congregation for judgment, until the death of the high priest that shall be in those days: then shall the manslayer return, and come to his own city, and to his own house, to the city from whence he fled.
Numbers 35:12 The cities shall be to you for refuge from the avenger, that the manslayer not die, until he stands before the congregation for judgment.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Numbers 35:24 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וְשָֽׁפְטוּ֙ הָֽעֵדָ֔ה בֵּ֚ין הַמַּכֶּ֔ה וּבֵ֖ין גֹּאֵ֣ל הַדָּ֑ם עַ֥ל הַמִּשְׁפָּטִ֖ים הָאֵֽלֶּה

then the congregation shall judge between the striker and the avenger of blood according to these ordinances;

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Numbers 35:24 Septuagint · lemma form

καί κρίνω ὁ συναγωγή ἀνά μέσος ὁ πατάσσω καί ἀνά μέσος ὁ ἀγχιστεύω ὁ αἷμα κατά ὁ κρίμα οὗτος

then the assembly shall judge between the smiter and the avenger of blood, according to these judgments.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וִידוּנוּן כְּנִשְׁתָּא בֵּין מַחְיָא וּבֵין גָאֵל דְמָא עַל דִינַיָא הָאִלֵין

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וִידוּנוּן כְּנִשְׁתָּא בֵּין מַחְיָא וּבֵין תָּבַע אַדְמָא עַל סְדַר דִינַיָא הָאִילֵין

then the congregation shall judge between him who had smitten him, and the avenger of blood, according to these judgments;

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Numbers 35:24 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Tyndale Open Study Notes

Tyndale Open Resources

35:24-25 If the slayer was cleared of the murder charge in his trial or hearing before the community (cp. Deut 19:11-12), he had to remain in the city of refuge to which he fled, and the avenger was not supposed to seek revenge, because the slayer was not guilty of murder. • until the death of the high priest: The priest’s death probably provided a kind of expiation for the blood that had been shed; even though the slayer was innocent of murder, human bloodshed had polluted the land (Num 35:33; cp. Gen 4:10-11).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Geneva Bible (1599)

Geneva Bible translators

That is, his next kinsman.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

24. according to these judgements] i.e. guided by the foregoing specimen cases. A similar type of rule, based on hypothetical cases, is seen in the ‘Judgements’ in Exo_21:1 to Exo_22:17.

24–28. The legal procedure in the case of accidental homicide.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

Then the congregation,.... That is, the court of judicature, assembled together to hear and try this cause:

shall judge between the slayer and the revenger of blood; shall hear what both have to say, and pass sentence:

according to these judgments; these judicial laws and rules of judgment before delivered, exemplified in various cases.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

If the man-slayer flee to the city of refuge.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

24. These judgments — The provisions of this statute.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Then - If the man-slayer flee to to the city of refuge.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Keil & Delitzsch

C. F. Keil & F. Delitzsch

In such a case as this, the congregation was to judge between the slayer and the avenger of blood, according to the judgments before them. They were to rescue the innocent man from the avenger of blood, to bring him back to his (i.e., the nearest) city of refuge to which he had fled, that he might dwell there till the death of the high priest, who had been anointed with the holy oil.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

unfoldingWord translationNotes

Door43 World Missions Community

the avenger of blood

Here the word "blood" is a metonym for the murder. See how you translated this phrase in Numbers 35:19. AT: "the one who avenges the murder" or "the relative seeking vengeance" (See: Metonymy)

The community must rescue the accused

This means if the community judges that the death was accidental then they must save the accused man from the relative who wants to kill him. If the community judges that the death was not accidental, then the relative must execute the accused man. (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

the one who was anointed with the holy oil

This can be stated in active form. AT: "the one you anointed with holy oil" (See: Active or Passive)

translationWords

judge

accuse

avenge

power

refuge

high priest

anoint

holy

oil

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Numbers, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 10 words (9 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is gâʼal (“to redeem”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “to redeem” (gâʼal) shape what this verse is saying?
Joshua 20:6 shares this passage’s theme. How do the two illuminate each other?
“between” occurs 2× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
The verb «וְשָֽׁפְטוּ֙» is Qal Sequential Perfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Tyndale Open Study Notes and Geneva Bible (1599) read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

This verse counts 10 Hebrew ↔ 19 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 12 words in this verse.
“between” occurs 2× in this single verse.
9 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 10 words in this verse.