Numbers 35:31

35:31-32 The payment of a ransom (monetary compensation) to free a convicted murderer from execution was prohibited, since the death penalty was required (cp. 2 Sam 21:2-9). Similarly, the slayer in an involuntary manslaughter could not pay a ransom to get around his confinement in a city of refuge.

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

Which purposely hath committed murder.

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

Verse 31. Ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer] No atonement could be made for him, nor any commutation, so as to save him from death. All the laws of the civilized world have either adjudged the murderer to death, or to a punishment equivalent to it; such as perpetual imprisonment, in a dungeon, under ground, on a stone floor, without light, and to be fed on a small portion of bread and water. In such circumstances a man could live but a short time; and though it is not called the punishment of death, yet, from its inevitable consequences, it only differed from it by being a little longer respite than was usual where the punishment of death was awarded. See Clarke on Ge 9:6.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(31, 32) Moreover ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer . . . —The Israelites were not allowed to make terms with the relatives of the man who had been slain, as is not unfrequently the case at the present time; nor were they permitted to allow the man who had slain any one unintentionally to return home from the city of refuge before the death of the high priest, on the payment of a sum of money by way of compensation.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

31, 32. The murderer’s life may not be ransomed. And the man who has committed accidental homicide may not pay a ransom in lieu of detention in the city of refuge. These prohibitions emphasize the extreme value of human life.

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.

Moreover, ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer,.... Though he would give all his wealth and substance, all his estates and possessions, and whatever he is worth in the world; for all that a man has he will give for his life; but these are not to be taken, nor anything, and everything his friends may offer for him; all is to be rejected, the life of such a man is not to be saved on any consideration:

which is guilty of death; as he is who kills a man willingly and purposely; but one may be guilty of killing another, and yet not be deserving of death, when it is done ignorantly and accidentally with respect to him, for which reason this clause is added: but he shall be surely put to death; by the order of the civil magistrate; and if this is not done either through want of evidence, or the fault of the judge, or the criminal clemency of the chief governor, God sooner or later will take vengeance on such a person.

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

No satisfaction - Rather, ransom (see Exo 21:30). The permission to demand pecuniary compensation for murders (expressly sanctioned by the Koran) undoubtedly mitigates, in practice, the system of private retaliation; but it does so by sacrificing the principle named in Num 35:12, Num 35:33.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

No intercession nor ransom shall be accepted to save his life, or procure him a pardon.

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

31. No satisfaction for… a murderer — In the LXX. the words “satisfaction for the life” are almost exactly those used by Jesus Christ in Mat_20:28, “To give his life a ransom for many.” Human life is too sacred to be paid for in gold and silver. Without the shedding of blood there is no possible atonement for murder. The soul of the murdered man is the possession of God, and not of the avenger of blood; hence he is forbidden to accept ransom money. Imprisonment for life is not a sufficient expiation. Vers. 16-21, note.

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

Ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer. The passion for vengeance is both bad and good, and is therefore to be carefully purified and restrained; but when the desire for vengeance can be appeased by a money payment, it has become wholly bad, and is only a despicable form of covetousness which insults the justice it pretends to invoke. Such payments or "ransoms" are permitted by the Koran, and have been common among most semi-civilized peoples, notably amongst our old English ancestors.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He must certainly be put to death

This can be stated in active form. AT: "You must execute him" (See: Active or Passive and Idiom)

You must not ... allow him to reside on his own property

This implied that the man would have left the city of refuge and returned home. AT: "You must not ... allow him to leave the city of refuge and return home to live on his own property" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

in this way

"by accepting a ransom"

translationWords

ransom

guilt

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

ולא תקח כפר AND YE SHALL TAKE NO RANSOM — He (the murderer) shall not be freed by a monetary payment (Ketubot 37b).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

AND YE SHALL TAKE NO RANSOM FOR THE LIFE OF A MURDERER etc. The correct interpretation of [the repetition of the phrase ye shall take no ransom in Verses 31-32] that at first [i.e., in the verse before us] He warned us against [pardoning] a deliberate murderer, [stating]: And ye shall take no ransom of monetary payment for the life of a murderer, who is guilty of death, for he shall under all circumstances be put to death, and shall not be saved from death by any means, neither by exile nor by stripes nor by any other punishment. And afterwards [in Verse 32] He stated, And ye shall take no ransom to allow him to flee [from the city of refuge] and return to live in the Land, until the death of the priest, and the verse thus refers back to those liable to exile [for unwitting murder] which He had [previously] mentioned, who are the main subject of this section. It is thus as if He would have said: And similarly you shall take no ransom from a murderer [who killed unwittingly] in order that he should flee [from his city of refuge] and return to live in the Land, before the death of the [High] Priest.” It was unnecessary to say that we should take no ransom from him [to free him] altogether from fleeing to the city of refuge, because anyone who kills somebody unwittingly is afraid at first that the avenger of blood might kill him in the heat of his anger, or [might kill him] because he suspected him of deliberate murder [and therefore he will always want at first to flee to the city of refuge]. Scripture, therefore, did not have to speak about [not taking] a ransom to free him altogether, but speaks only about [the prohibition against taking] a ransom after he has fled there, to enable him to return to his land, and so that he should not have to stay there [in the city of refuge] as long as the [High] Priest is alive. For[it is likely that he may desire to leave it, since] after he has fled [there] and stood [trial] before the congregation for judgment and has been acquitted by them [of the charge of deliberate murder], he will no longer be afraid of the avenger of blood, and so he will want to return to his house before the due time [i.e., before the death of the High Priest]. Therefore Scripture warned us against [accepting from him a ransom or bribe for] this [purpose]. Or [it may be] that there is a letter vav “missing” from the word lashuv [in Verse 32 — so that it is as if it said v’lashuv] meaning “or to abide.” to his land before the death of the High Priest. This interpretation is to be preferred apparently because it does not necessitate the introduction of a missing letter into the verse, as mentioned in the text. But the first interpretation appears to me to be the correct one.

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.