The cities shall be for you a refuge from the avenger: The cities refers to the cities of refuge. Some languages may prefer to say “These cities” or simply “There” (Good News Translation). For the Hebrew word rendered refuge (qalat), see verse 6. The Hebrew term for avenger is goʾel (literally “redeemer”; see 5.8, where it is rendered “kinsman”). Goʾel is a shorter form of goʾel hadam (meaning “avenger of blood” or “restorer of blood”; so Levine, pages 548, 561), which occurs elsewhere in this chapter. It is implied here that blood vengeance was practiced in Israel (so Noth, page 254). However, the goʾel was not to engage in revenge for its own sake—he restored and redeemed the family loss. This concept of retribution also implies that only the manslayer could lose his life, not any member of his family (so Budd, page 380). The justice of such capital punishment was limited to the guilty person. The avenger was the nearest relative of the person who was killed, “the dead man’s next-of-kin” (Revised English Bible), not just anyone “who wants to take revenge for the murder” (Reina-Valera Contemporánea). A helpful model for the avenger is “the relative appointed to avenge the victim” (similarly Bible en français courant).

That the manslayer may not die until he stands before the congregation for judgment: A natural death is not in view here, as Revised Standard Version seems to suggest, but rather an execution. So a better model here is “He may only be killed if he is found guilty in a public trial” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch; similarly Bijbel in Gewone Taal). The Hebrew word for congregation is ʿedah (see 1.2), which is better rendered “assembly” (New International Version), “people” (SPCL) or “council of elders” (Chewa) in this context of a trial. The word congregation may wrongly suggest a meeting for worship. Contemporary English Version omits this word, which we do not recommend. The community was given the responsibility for judging between the accused person and the blood avenger by determining whether the accused had committed premeditated murder. If he deliberately killed the person, he had to be executed by the appointed blood avenger (so Alter, pages 860-861). In this context accurate renderings for until he stands before the congregation are “until he has a public trial” (similarly Good News Translation) and “until he has a trial before the community.” Other possible models are “until he has stood trial before the community” (NET Bible; similarly De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling) and “before being tried by the community” (New Living Translation).

Quoted with permission from de Regt, Lénart J. and Wendland, Ernst R. A Handbook on Numbers. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .