Deuteronomy 19:1-4

Contemporary English Version

Safe Towns

(Numbers 35.9-28; Joshua 20.1-9)

Moses said to Israel:

19 ^(A) Soon you will go into the land and attack the nations. The Lord your God will destroy them and give you their lands, towns, and homes. Then after you are settled, ^2-4 you must choose three of your towns to be Safe Towns. Divide the land into three regions with one Safe Town near the middle of each, so that a Safe Town can be easily reached from anywhere in your land.

Then, if one of you accidentally kills someone, you can run to a Safe Town and find protection from being put to death. But you must not have been angry with the person you killed.