Deuteronomy 19:4-6

International Standard Version

⁴ “Now this is the situation for any killer who flees there to live: suppose he strikes his friend unwittingly, not having hated him previously. ⁵ For instance,^[a] he may have accompanied his friend to go to a forest to cut trees. Then he swung his axe to cut some wood, but the ax head flew off the handle^[b] and hit^[c] his friend, so that he died. The killer^[d] may flee to one of these cities to live. ⁶ Since the distance may be great, the angry avenger may overtake the killer he is pursuing and kill him, in which case there will be no justice in his death, because he did not hate his friend^[e] previously.