Numbers 35:16 Made Simple

KJV ORIGINAL

And if he smite him with an instrument of iron, so that he die, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death.

Close to the original. Clear modern English.

✦ MADE SIMPLE

If someone strikes another person with an iron weapon and kills them, that person is a murderer. The murderer must be put to death.

⚡ THE BOTTOM LINE

This verse establishes that killing someone with a metal weapon makes you a murderer who deserves the death penalty.

📚 Historical Context

This verse is part of God's instructions to Moses about cities of refuge and laws concerning murder versus accidental killing. In ancient Israel, God was establishing clear legal distinctions between intentional murder and unintentional manslaughter. The mention of iron instruments was significant because iron weapons were deliberately crafted tools of violence, indicating premeditation.

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The city leaders must take the young cow down to a rough valley that has never been plowed or planted, and there in the valley they must break the cow's neck.

Numbers 35:18

Or if someone strikes another person with a wooden weapon that could kill, and the person dies, then the attacker is a murderer. That murderer must be put to death.

Deuteronomy 19:11

But if someone hates his neighbor and waits in hiding to attack him, and strikes him so hard that he dies, and then runs away to one of these cities:

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