²² “But if someone pushes another suddenly without enmity or hurls any object without lying in wait,^(A)

¹¹ then you shall select cities to be cities of refuge for you, so that a slayer who kills a person without intent may flee there.^(A)

¹³ If it was not premeditated but came about by an act of God, then I will appoint for you a place to which the killer may flee.^(A)

⁵ And if the avenger of blood is in pursuit, they shall not give up the slayer because the neighbor was killed by mistake, there having been no enmity between them before.^(A)

³ so that anyone who kills a person without intent or by mistake may flee there; they shall be for you a refuge from the avenger of blood.

⁵ Suppose someone goes into the forest with another to cut wood, and when one of them swings the ax to cut down a tree, the head slips from the handle and strikes the other person, who then dies; the killer may flee to one of these cities and live.