^2 (A)you shall separate three cities for yourself in the midst of your land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess.

¹³ However, ^(A)if he did not lie in wait, but God ^(B)delivered him into his hand, then ^(C)I will appoint for you a place where he may flee.

¹⁸ that by two ^[a]immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to ^(A)lie, we ^[b]might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope ^(B)set before us.

² “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ^(A)‘Appoint^[a] for yourselves cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses, ³ that the slayer who kills a person accidentally or unintentionally may flee there; and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood. ⁴ And when he flees to one of those cities, and stands at the entrance of the gate of the city, and ^[b]declares his case in the hearing of the elders of that city, they shall take him into the city as one of them, and give him a place, that he may dwell among them. ^5 (B)Then if the avenger of blood pursues him, they shall not deliver the slayer into his hand, because he struck his neighbor unintentionally, but did not hate him beforehand. ⁶ And he shall dwell in that city ^(C)until he stands before the congregation for judgment, and until the death of the one who is high priest in those days. Then the slayer may return and come to his own city and his own house, to the city from which he fled.’ ”

⁷ So they appointed ^(D)Kedesh in Galilee, in the mountains of Naphtali, ^(E)Shechem in the mountains of Ephraim, and ^(F)Kirjath Arba (which is Hebron) in ^(G)the mountains of Judah.

Cities of Refuge East of the Jordan

⁴¹ Then Moses ^(A)set apart three cities on this side of the Jordan, toward the rising of the sun, ^42 (B)that the manslayer might flee there, who kills his neighbor unintentionally, without having hated him in time past, and that by fleeing to one of these cities he might live: ^43 (C)Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau for the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites.

¹⁰ “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ^(A)‘When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, ¹¹ then ^(B)you shall appoint cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the manslayer who kills any person accidentally may flee there. ^12 (C)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. ¹³ And of the cities which you give, you shall have ^(D)six cities of refuge. ^14 (E)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. ¹⁵ These six cities shall be for refuge for the children of Israel, ^(F)for the stranger, and for the sojourner among them, that anyone who kills a person accidentally may flee there.