¹⁰ “^(A)Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, ^11 (B)then you shall select for yourselves cities to be your ^(C)cities of refuge, that the manslayer who has struck down any person ^(D)unintentionally may flee there. ^12 (E)And the cities shall be for you as a refuge from the avenger, so that the manslayer will not die until he stands before the congregation for judgment. ¹³ And the cities which you are to give shall be your six cities of refuge. ¹⁴ You ^(F)shall give three cities across the Jordan and three cities ^[a]in the land of Canaan; they are to be cities of refuge. ¹⁵ These six cities shall be for refuge for the sons of Israel and for the sojourner and for the foreign resident among them; that anyone who strikes a person down ^(G)unintentionally may flee there.

¹⁶ ‘^(H)But if he struck him down with an iron object, so that he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. ¹⁷ And if he struck him down with a stone in the hand, by which he would die, and as a result he died, he is a murderer; the murderer ^(I)shall surely be put to death. ¹⁸ Or if he struck him with a wooden object in the hand, by which he would die, and as a result he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. ¹⁹ The blood avenger himself shall put the murderer to death; he shall put him to death when he meets him. ^20 (J)And if he pushed him of hatred or threw something at him ^(K)lying in wait and as a result he died, ²¹ or if he struck him down with his hand in enmity, and as a result he died, the one who struck him shall surely be put to death; he is a murderer; the blood avenger shall put the murderer to death when he meets him.

²² ‘^(L)But if he pushed him suddenly without enmity or threw something at him without lying in wait, ²³ or with any stone—by which one might die, yet without seeing—and it fell upon him, and he died, but he was not his enemy nor seeking his injury, ²⁴ then ^(M)the congregation shall judge between the ^[b]slayer and the blood avenger according to these legal judgments. ²⁵ And the congregation shall deliver the manslayer from the hand of the blood avenger, and the congregation shall restore him to his city of refuge to which he fled; and he shall live in it until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil. ²⁶ But if the manslayer at any time goes beyond the border of his city of refuge to which he may flee, ²⁷ and the blood avenger finds him outside the border of his city of refuge, and the blood avenger kills the manslayer, he will not be guilty of blood ²⁸ because he should have remained in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest the manslayer shall return to the land of his possession.

²⁹ ‘And these things shall be for a ^(N)statutory judgment to you throughout your generations in all your places of habitation.

³⁰ ‘^(O)If anyone strikes down a person, the murderer shall be put to death at the mouth of witnesses, but ^(P)no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness. ³¹ Moreover, you shall not take ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall surely be put to death. ³² And you shall not take ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge, that he may return to live in the land ^[c]before the death of the priest. ^33 (Q)So you shall not pollute the land in which you are; for blood pollutes the land, and no propitiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed on it, except ^(R)by the blood of him who shed it. ³⁴ And you shall not ^(S)defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which ^(T)I dwell; for I Yahweh am dwelling in the midst of the sons of Israel.’”

Statutes About Cities of Refuge

19 “^(A)When Yahweh your God cuts off the nations, whose land Yahweh your God gives you, and you dispossess them and settle in their cities and in their houses, ^2 (B)you shall set apart three cities for yourself in the midst of your land, which Yahweh your God gives you to ^[a]possess. ³ You shall prepare the ^[b]roads for yourself, and divide into three parts the territory of your land which Yahweh your God will give you to inherit, ^[c]so that any manslayer may flee there.

⁴ “^(C)Now this is the case of the manslayer who may flee there and live: when he strikes down his friend ^[d]without premeditation, ^[e]not hating him previously— ⁵ as when a man goes into the forest with his friend to cut wood, and his hand ^[f]swings the axe to cut down the tree, and the iron head slips off the ^[g]handle and ^[h]strikes his friend so that he dies—he may flee to one of these cities and live; ⁶ lest the avenger of blood pursue the manslayer when his heart is ^[i]angry, and overtake him, because the way is long, and ^[j]strike down his life, though he was not deserving of death, since he had not hated him previously. ⁷ Therefore, I am commanding you, saying, ‘You shall set apart three cities for yourself.’

⁸ “Now if Yahweh your God ^(D)enlarges your territory, just as He has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land which He ^[k]promised to give to your fathers— ⁹ if you ^[l]be careful to do all this commandment which I am commanding you today, ^(E)to love Yahweh your God and to walk in His ways all your days—^(F)then you shall add three more cities for yourself, besides these three. ¹⁰ So innocent blood will not be shed in the midst of your land which Yahweh your God gives you as an inheritance, and ^(G)bloodguiltiness be on you.

¹¹ “But ^(H)if there is a man who hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and rises up against him and strikes down ^[m]his life so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities, ¹² then the elders of his city shall send and take him from there and give him over into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die. ^13 [n](I)You shall not pity him, but ^(J)you shall purge the blood of the innocent from Israel, that it may go well with you.

The Cities of Refuge

20 Then Yahweh 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 by the hand of Moses, ³ that the manslayer who strikes down any person unintentionally, without premeditation, may flee there, and they shall become for you as a refuge from the avenger of blood. ⁴ And he shall flee to one of these cities and shall stand at the entrance of the ^(B)gate of the city and speak his case in the hearing of the elders of that city; and they shall ^[b]take him into the city to them and give him a place, so that he may live among them. ⁵ Now ^(C)if the avenger of blood pursues him, then they shall not surrender the manslayer into his hand because he struck his neighbor without premeditation and did not hate him beforehand. ⁶ And he shall live 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 the manslayer shall return and come to his own city and to his own house, to the city from which he fled.’”

⁷ So they ^[c]set apart ^(E)Kedesh in ^[d]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 Now beyond the Jordan east of Jericho, they ^[e]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 appointed cities for all the sons of Israel and for the sojourner who sojourns among them, that whoever strikes down any person unintentionally may flee there and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood until he stands before the congregation.