Joshua 20
New American Standard Bible
Six Cities of Refuge
20 Then the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying, 2 “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘[a]Designate (A)the cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you [b]through Moses, 3 so that one who commits manslaughter by [c]killing a person unintentionally, without premeditation, may flee there, and they shall become your refuge from the avenger of blood. 4 Then he shall flee to one of these cities, and shall stand at the entrance of the (B)gate of the city, and state his case in the [d]presence of the elders of that city; and they shall [e]receive him into the city to them and give him a place, so that he may remain among them. 5 Now (C)if the avenger of blood pursues him, then they are not to hand the one who committed manslaughter over to him, since he struck his neighbor without premeditation and did not hate him previously. 6 And he shall remain in that city (D)until he stands before the congregation for judgment, until the death of the one who is high priest in those days. Then [f]he shall [g]return to his own city and to his own house, to the city from which he fled.’”
7 So they [h]set apart (E)Kedesh in [i]Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, and Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in (F)the hill country of Judah. 8 And beyond the Jordan east of Jericho, they [j]designated Bezer in the wilderness on the plain from the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead from the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan from the tribe of Manasseh. 9 (G)These were the designated cities for all the sons of Israel and for the stranger who resides among them, so that whoever [k]kills a person unintentionally may flee there, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood until he stands before the congregation.
Footnotes
- Joshua 20:2 Lit Give for yourselves
- Joshua 20:2 Lit by the hand of
- Joshua 20:3 Lit striking
- Joshua 20:4 Lit ears of
- Joshua 20:4 Lit gather
- Joshua 20:6 Lit the one who committed manslaughter
- Joshua 20:6 Lit return and come
- Joshua 20:7 Lit sanctified
- Joshua 20:7 Heb Galil
- Joshua 20:8 Lit gave
- Joshua 20:9 Lit strikes
Joshua 20
Common English Bible
Refuge cities
20 The Lord spoke to Joshua: 2 “Say to the Israelites, ‘Set up refuge cities for yourselves. I spoke to you about these through Moses. 3 Anyone who kills by striking down someone unintentionally or by mistake may flee there. These places will be a refuge for you from any member of the victim’s family seeking revenge. 4 The killer will flee to one of these cities, stand at the entrance of the city gate, and explain their situation to the elders of that city. The elders are to let the killer into the city and provide a place of refuge for the killer to live with them. 5 If a member of the victim’s family follows, seeking revenge, they won’t hand the killer over. This is because the killer struck down the neighbor by accident and hadn’t been an enemy in the past. 6 The killer will live in that city until there can be a trial before the community or[a] until the death of the one who is high priest at that time. Then the killer may return home, back to the city from which the flight began.’”
7 So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the highlands of Naphtali, Shechem in the highlands of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the highlands of Judah. 8 On the other side of the Jordan east of Jericho, they set up Bezer in the wasteland on the plateau from the tribe of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead from the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan from the tribe of Manasseh. 9 These cities were the ones designated for all the Israelites and for immigrants residing among them. Anyone who struck down a person by mistake could flee there and escape death at the hand of some member of the victim’s family seeking revenge, until there could be a trial before the community.
Footnotes
- Joshua 20:6 Heb uncertain
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