“The cities that you give to the Levites shall be the six cities of refuge, where you shall permit the manslayer to flee, and in addition to them you shall give forty-two cities.

Cities of Refuge

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

then you shall select cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the manslayer who kills any person without intent may flee there.

The cities shall be for you a refuge from the avenger, that the manslayer may not die until he stands before the congregation for judgment.

And the cities that you give shall be your six cities of refuge.

You shall give three cities beyond the Jordan, and three cities in the land of Canaan, to be cities of refuge.

These six cities shall be for refuge for the people of Israel, and for the stranger and for the sojourner among them, that anyone who kills any person without intent may flee there.

And the congregation shall rescue the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to his city of refuge to which he had fled, and he shall live in it until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil.

But if the manslayer shall at any time go beyond the boundaries of his city of refuge to which he fled,

and the avenger of blood finds him outside the boundaries of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the manslayer, he shall not be guilty of blood.

For he must remain in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest, but after the death of the high priest the manslayer may return to the land of his possession.

And you shall accept no ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge, that he may return to dwell in the land before the death of the high priest.