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

Cities of Refuge

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

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.

The cities shall be for you a refuge from the avenger, so that the slayer may not die until there is a trial before the congregation.

“The cities that you designate shall be six cities of refuge for you:

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

These six cities shall serve as refuge for the Israelites, for the resident or transient alien among them, so that anyone who kills a person without intent may flee there.

and the congregation shall rescue the slayer from the avenger of blood. Then the congregation shall send the slayer back to the original city of refuge. The slayer shall live in it until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil.

But if the slayer shall at any time go outside the bounds of the original city of refuge

and is found by the avenger of blood outside the bounds of the city of refuge and is killed by the avenger, no bloodguilt shall be incurred.

For the slayer must remain in the city of refuge until the death of the high priest, but after the death of the high priest the slayer may return to his property.

Nor shall you accept ransom for one who has fled to a city of refuge, enabling the fugitive to return to live in the land before the death of the high priest.

Cities of Refuge East of the Jordan

Then Moses set apart on the east side of the Jordan three cities

Laws concerning the Cities of Refuge

“When the Lord your God has cut off the nations whose land the Lord your God is giving you and you have dispossessed them and settled in their towns and in their houses,

Then he will say, ‘Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge,

The Cities of Refuge

Then the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying,

“Say to the Israelites: Appoint the cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses,

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.

To the descendants of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron, the city of refuge for the slayer, with its pasturelands, Libnah with its pasturelands,

To them were given Shechem, the city of refuge for the slayer, with its pasturelands in the hill country of Ephraim, Gezer with its pasturelands,

To the Gershonites, one of the families of the Levites, were given out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Golan in Bashan with its pasturelands, the city of refuge for the slayer, and Beeshterah with its pasturelands—two towns.

Out of the tribe of Naphtali: Kedesh in Galilee with its pasturelands, the city of refuge for the slayer, Hammoth-dor with its pasturelands, and Kartan with its pasturelands—three towns.

Out of the tribe of Gad: Ramoth in Gilead with its pasturelands, the city of refuge for the slayer, Mahanaim with its pasturelands,

And the bramble said to the trees, ‘If in good faith you are anointing me king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade, but if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.’

May the Lord reward you for your deeds, and may you have a full reward from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge!”