Numbers 35:25
וְהִצִּילוּ הָעֵדָה אֶת־הָרֹצֵחַ מִיַּד גֹּאֵל הַדָּם וְהֵשִׁיבוּ אֹתוֹ הָֽעֵדָה אֶל־עִיר מִקְלָטוֹ אֲשֶׁר־נָס שָׁמָּה וְיָשַׁב בָּהּ עַד־מוֹת הַכֹּהֵן הַגָּדֹל אֲשֶׁר־מָשַׁח אֹתוֹ בְּשֶׁמֶן הַקֹּֽדֶשׁ׃
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וְהִצִּ֨ילוּ הָעֵדָ֜ה אֶת־הָרֹצֵ֗חַ מִיַּד֮ גֹּאֵ֣ל הַדָּם֒ וְהֵשִׁ֤יבוּ אֹתוֹ֙ הָֽעֵדָ֔ה אֶל־עִ֥יר מִקְלָט֖וֹ אֲשֶׁר־נָ֣ס שָׁ֑מָּה וְיָ֣שַׁב בָּ֗הּ עַד־מוֹת֙ הַכֹּהֵ֣ן הַגָּדֹ֔ל אֲשֶׁר־מָשַׁ֥ח אֹת֖וֹ בְּשֶׁ֥מֶן הַקֹּֽדֶשׁ׃
καὶ ἐξελεῖται ἡ συναγωγὴ τὸν φονεύσαντα ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀγχιστεύοντος τὸ αἷμα, καὶ ἀποκαταστήσουσιν αὐτὸν ἡ συναγωγὴ εἰς τὴν πόλιν τοῦ φυγαδευτηρίου αὐτοῦ οὗ κατέφυγεν, καὶ κατοικήσῃ ἐκεῖ ἕως ἂν ἀποθάνῃ ὁ ἱερεὺς ὁ μέγας, ὃν ἔχρισαν αὐτὸν τῷ ἐλαίῳ τῷ ἁγίῳ.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
liberabitur innocens de ultoris manu, et reducetur per sententiam in urbem, ad quam confugerat, manebitque ibi, donec sacerdos magnus, qui oleo sancto unctus est, moriatur.
La comunidad protegerá a la persona acusada de homicidio y no la entregará al vengador de la sangre. La escoltarán de regreso a la ciudad de refugio a la que había huido, y allí deberá quedarse hasta que muera el sumo sacerdote que fue ungido con el aceite sagrado.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y la congregación librará al homicida de mano del pariente del muerto, y la congregación lo hará volver á su ciudad de acogimiento, á la cual se había acogido; y morará en ella hasta que muera el gran sacerdote, el cual fué ungido con el aceite santo.
The assembly is to protect the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood. Then the assembly will return him to the city of refuge to which he fled, and he must live there until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil.
✦ What the text says
Summary
Numbers 35:25 establishes that the congregation ('edah, H5712) must deliver the killer (rotzeach, H7523) from the hand of the blood avenger and return him to his city of refuge, where he must remain until the death of the high priest who was anointed with holy oil.
Key words
- hi.Tzi.lu ("they will deliver", H5337) — hiphil (causative) sequential perfect: the congregation actively causes the rescue, not a passive event.
- ro.Tze.ach ("killer", H7523) — qal participle, masculine singular: describes the one who performs the act of killing, used here as a substantive designation rather than a fixed legal title.
- go.'El ("avenger of", H1350) — qal participle construct: "the one who redeems/avenges," grammatically linked to ha.Dam ("the blood", H1818) as "avenger of the blood."
- ma.Shach ("someone had anointed", H4886) — qal perfect: a completed past action, referring to the anointing that qualified the high priest.
- nas ("he had fled", H5127) — qal perfect: marks the manslayer's flight as an antecedent completed event relative to the main narrative sequence.
What the text says
The verse is built on a chain of sequential perfect verbs (hi.Tzi.lu, he.Shi.vu, ya.shav) that continue a narrative sequence begun earlier in the passage, describing consecutive obligatory actions: the congregation "delivers" (hi.Tzi.lu), then "returns" (he.Shi.vu), and the killer then "dwells" (ya.shav). Both hiphil verbs (hi.Tzi.lu and he.Shi.vu) are causative, indicating that the congregation is the active agent producing these outcomes, not a passive body ratifying someone else's decision.
The phrase go.'El ha.Dam ("avenger of the blood") uses a qal participle in construct state, literally "the one avenging" attached to "the blood" — a grammatical construction that names the role by the ongoing action associated with it, rather than a static title. Similarly, ro.Tze.ach is a qal participle, "the one killing/who killed," used substantively for "the killer" without further clarification in this verse about intent.
The temporal clause 'ad-mOt ha.ko.Hen ha.ga.Dol ("until the death of the high priest") sets the boundary condition using the construct noun mOt ("death of"), followed by 'a.Sher ma.Shach ("whom he had anointed"), a qal perfect describing the anointing as a completed prior event. The verb ma.Shach has no explicit subject named in the Hebrew text (rendered "someone had anointed" per the grammar notes), leaving the agent of anointing unspecified in the verse itself.
Differences between versions
The LXX renders 'edah ("congregation") as synagōgē, and translates go.'El ha.Dam ("avenger of the blood") with a participial phrase tou anchisteuontos to haima ("the one having the right of next-of-kin over the blood"), a slightly different image than the Hebrew's participle-based "avenger."
The Vulgate diverges more notably: it introduces innocens ("innocent one") where the Hebrew has ha.ro.Tzeach ("the killer"), and adds per sententiam ("by judgment/sentence"), a phrase not present in the Hebrew or the LXX. The Vulgate's ma.Shach clause uses a passive construction, unctus est ("was anointed"), while the Hebrew verb ma.Shach is active in form with an unstated subject.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.