¹⁴ Like water^(A) spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die.^(B) But that is not what God desires; rather, he devises ways so that a banished person^(C) does not remain banished from him.

²⁸ The accused must stay in the city of refuge until the death of the high priest; only after the death of the high priest may they return to their own property.

²⁷ Just as people are destined to die once,^(A) and after that to face judgment,^(B)

²⁵ 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,^(A) who was anointed^(B) with the holy oil.^(C)

¹⁵ These six towns will be a place of refuge for Israelites and for foreigners residing among them, so that anyone who has killed another accidentally can flee there.