Cities of Refuge. ^41 (A)Then Moses set apart three cities in the region east of the Jordan, ⁴² to which a homicide might flee who killed a neighbor unintentionally, where there had been no hatred previously, so that the killer might flee to one of these cities and live: ⁴³ Bezer in the wilderness, in the region of the plateau, for the Reubenites; Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites.

Personal Injury. ^12 [a]Whoever strikes someone a mortal blow must be put to death.^{(A) 13} However, regarding the one who did not hunt another down, but God caused death to happen by his hand, I will set apart for you a place to which that one may flee. ¹⁴ But when someone kills a neighbor after maliciously scheming to do so, you must take him even from my altar and put him to death.

Cities of Asylum. ^9 (A)The Lord spoke to Moses: ¹⁰ Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you go across the Jordan into the land of Canaan, ¹¹ select for yourselves cities to serve as cities of asylum, where a homicide who has killed someone inadvertently may flee. ¹² These cities will serve you as places of asylum from the avenger of blood,^[a] so that a homicide will not be put to death until tried before the community. ¹³ As for the cities you assign, you will have six cities of asylum: ¹⁴ you will designate three cities beyond the Jordan, and you will designate three cities in the land of Canaan. These will be cities of asylum. ¹⁵ These six cities will serve as places of asylum for the Israelites, and for the resident or transient aliens among them, so that anyone who has killed a person inadvertently may flee there.

Murder and Manslaughter. ^16 [b]If someone strikes another with an iron instrument and causes death, that person is a murderer, and the murderer must be put to death.^{(B) 17} If someone strikes another with a death-dealing stone in the hand and death results, that person is a murderer, and the murderer must be put to death. ¹⁸ Or if someone strikes another with a death-dealing club in the hand and death results, that person is a murderer, and the murderer must be put to death. ¹⁹ The avenger of blood is the one who will kill the murderer, putting the individual to death on sight.

²⁰ If someone pushes another out of hatred, or throws something from an ambush, and death results,^{(C) 21} or strikes another with the hand out of enmity and death results, the assailant must be put to death as a murderer. The avenger of blood will kill the murderer on sight.

^22 (D)However, if someone pushes another without malice aforethought, or without lying in ambush throws some object at another, ²³ or without seeing drops upon another some death-dealing stone and death results, although there was neither enmity nor malice— ²⁴ then the community will judge between the assailant and the avenger of blood in accordance with these norms. ²⁵ The community will deliver the homicide from the avenger of blood and the community will return the homicide to the city of asylum where the latter had fled;^(E) and the individual will stay there until the death of the high priest who has been anointed with sacred oil. ²⁶ If the homicide leaves at all the bounds of the city of asylum to which flight had been made, ²⁷ and is found by the avenger of blood beyond the bounds of the city of asylum, and the avenger of blood kills the homicide, the avenger incurs no bloodguilt; ²⁸ for the homicide was required to stay in the city of asylum until the death of the high priest. Only after the death of the high priest may the homicide return to the land of the homicide’s possession.

²⁹ This is the statute for you throughout all your generations, wherever you live, for rendering judgment.

Judgment. ³⁰ Whenever someone kills another, the evidence of witnesses is required to kill the murderer.^(F) A single witness does not suffice for putting a person to death.

No Indemnity. ³¹ You will not accept compensation in place of the life of a murderer who deserves to die, but that person must be put to death. ³² Nor will you accept compensation to allow one who has fled to a city of asylum to return to live in the land before the death of the high priest. ³³ You will not pollute the land where you live. For bloodshed pollutes the land, and the land can have no expiation for the blood shed on it except through the blood of the one who shed it. ³⁴ Do not defile the land in which you live and in the midst of which I dwell;^(G) for I the Lord dwell in the midst of the Israelites.

Chapter 20

Cities of Refuge. ^1 (A)The Lord said to Joshua:^{[a] 2} Tell the Israelites: Designate for yourselves the cities of refuge of which I spoke to you through Moses, ³ to which anyone guilty of inadvertent and unintentional homicide may flee for asylum from the avenger of blood. ⁴ To one of these cities the killer shall flee, and standing at the entrance of the city gate, shall plead his case in the hearing of the elders of the city, who must receive him and assign him a place in which to live among them. ⁵ Though the avenger of blood pursues him, they shall not deliver up to him the one who killed a neighbor unintentionally, when there had been no hatred previously. ⁶ Once he has stood judgment before the community, he shall live on in that city until the death of the high priest who is in office at the time. Then the killer may return home to the city from where he originally fled.

List of Cities. ⁷ So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the mountain region of Naphtali, Shechem in the mountain region of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the mountain region of Judah.^{(B) 8} And beyond the Jordan east of Jericho they designated Bezer in the wilderness on the tableland in the tribe of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead in the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan in the tribe of Manasseh.^{(C) 9} These are the designated cities to which any Israelite or alien residing among them who had killed a person unintentionally might flee to escape death at the hand of the avenger of blood, until the killer could appear before the community.