“You shall not murder.

They will be places of refuge from the avenger, so that anyone accused of murder may not die before they stand trial before the assembly.

“‘If anyone strikes someone a fatal blow with an iron object, that person is a murderer; the murderer is to be put to death.

Or if anyone is holding a stone and strikes someone a fatal blow with it, that person is a murderer; the murderer is to be put to death.

Or if anyone is holding a wooden object and strikes someone a fatal blow with it, that person is a murderer; the murderer is to be put to death.

The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death; when the avenger comes upon the murderer, the avenger shall put the murderer to death.

or if out of enmity one person hits another with their fist so that the other dies, that person is to be put to death; that person is a murderer. The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when they meet.

The assembly must protect the one accused of murder from the avenger of blood and send the accused back to the city of refuge to which they fled. The accused must stay there until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil.

and the avenger of blood finds them outside the city, the avenger of blood may kill the accused without being guilty of murder.

“‘Anyone who kills a person is to be put to death as a murderer only on the testimony of witnesses. But no one is to be put to death on the testimony of only one witness.

“‘Do not accept a ransom for the life of a murderer, who deserves to die. They are to be put to death.

“You shall not murder.

Atonement for an Unsolved Murder

If someone is found slain, lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who the killer was,

Do nothing to the woman; she has committed no sin deserving death. This case is like that of someone who attacks and murders a neighbor,

So to the descendants of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron (a city of refuge for one accused of murder), Libnah,

In the hill country of Ephraim they were given Shechem (a city of refuge for one accused of murder) and Gezer,

The Levite clans of the Gershonites were given: from the half-tribe of Manasseh, Golan in Bashan (a city of refuge for one accused of murder) and Be Eshterah, together with their pasturelands—two towns;

from the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee (a city of refuge for one accused of murder), Hammoth Dor and Kartan, together with their pasturelands—three towns.

from the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead (a city of refuge for one accused of murder), Mahanaim,

He went to his father’s home in Ophrah and on one stone murdered his seventy brothers, the sons of Jerub-Baal. But Jotham, the youngest son of Jerub-Baal, escaped by hiding.

But today you have revolted against my father’s family. You have murdered his seventy sons on a single stone and have made Abimelek, the son of his female slave, king over the citizens of Shechem because he is related to you.

God did this in order that the crime against Jerub-Baal’s seventy sons, the shedding of their blood, might be avenged on their brother Abimelek and on the citizens of Shechem, who had helped him murder his brothers.

Thus God repaid the wickedness that Abimelek had done to his father by murdering his seventy brothers.

So the Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, said, “I and my concubine came to Gibeah in Benjamin to spend the night.

Joab Murders Abner

Just then David’s men and Joab returned from a raid and brought with them a great deal of plunder. But Abner was no longer with David in Hebron, because David had sent him away, and he had gone in peace.