“Now among the cities which you will give to the Levites you shall appoint six cities of refuge, to which a manslayer may flee. And to these you shall add forty-two cities.

Cities of Refuge

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

then you shall appoint cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the manslayer who kills any person accidentally may flee there.

They shall be cities of refuge for you from the avenger, that the manslayer may not die until he stands before the congregation in judgment.

And of the cities which you give, you shall have six cities of refuge.

You shall appoint three cities on this side of the Jordan, and three cities you shall appoint in the land of Canaan, which will be cities of refuge.

These six cities shall be for refuge for the children of Israel, for the stranger, and for the sojourner among them, that anyone who kills a person accidentally may flee there.

Cities of Refuge East of the Jordan

Then Moses set apart three cities on this side of the Jordan, toward the rising of the sun,

Three Cities of Refuge

“When the Lord your God has cut off the nations whose land the Lord your God is giving you, and you dispossess them and dwell in their cities and in their houses,

The Cities of Refuge

The Lord also spoke to Joshua, saying,

“Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Appoint for yourselves cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses,

Also to the children of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, from the other half-tribe of Manasseh, they gave Golan in Bashan with its common-land (a city of refuge for the slayer), and Be Eshterah with its common-land: two cities;

and from the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its common-land (a city of refuge for the slayer), Hammoth Dor with its common-land, and Kartan with its common-land: three cities.

And to the sons of Aaron they gave one of the cities of refuge, Hebron; also Libnah with its common-lands, Jattir, Eshtemoa with its common-lands,

And they gave them one of the cities of refuge, Shechem with its common-lands, in the mountains of Ephraim, also Gezer with its common-lands,