⁶ “Now among the cities which you will give to the Levites you shall appoint ^(A)six cities of refuge, to which a manslayer may flee. And to these you shall add forty-two cities. ⁷ So all the cities you will give to the Levites shall be ^(B)forty-eight; these you shall give with their common-land. ⁸ And the cities which you will give shall be ^(C)from the possession of the children of Israel; ^(D)from the larger tribe you shall give many, from the smaller you shall give few. Each shall give some of its cities to the Levites, in proportion to the inheritance that each receives.”

Cities of Refuge^(E)

⁹ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁰ “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ^(F)‘When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, ¹¹ then ^(G)you shall appoint cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the manslayer who kills any person accidentally may flee there. ^12 (H)They shall be cities of refuge for you from the avenger, that the manslayer may not die until he stands before the congregation in judgment. ¹³ And of the cities which you give, you shall have ^(I)six cities of refuge. ^14 (J)You shall appoint three cities on this side of the Jordan, and three cities you shall appoint in the land of Canaan, which will be cities of refuge. ¹⁵ These six cities shall be for refuge for the children of Israel, ^(K)for the stranger, and for the sojourner among them, that anyone who kills a person accidentally may flee there.

^16 (L)‘But if he strikes him with an iron implement, so that he dies, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. ¹⁷ And if he strikes him with a stone in the hand, by which one could die, and he does die, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. ¹⁸ Or if he strikes him with a wooden hand weapon, by which one could die, and he does die, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. ^19 (M)The^[a] avenger of blood himself shall put the murderer to death; when he meets him, he shall put him to death. ^20 (N)If he pushes him out of hatred or, ^(O)while lying in wait, hurls something at him so that he dies, ²¹ or in enmity he strikes him with his hand so that he dies, the one who struck him shall surely be put to death. He is a murderer. The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when he meets him.

²² ‘However, if he pushes him suddenly ^(P)without enmity, or throws anything at him without lying in wait, ²³ or uses a stone, by which a man could die, throwing it at him without seeing him, so that he dies, while he was not his enemy or seeking his harm, ²⁴ then ^(Q)the congregation shall judge between the manslayer and the avenger of blood according to these judgments. ²⁵ So the congregation shall deliver the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall return him to the city of refuge where he had fled, and ^(R)he shall remain there until the death of the high priest ^(S)who was anointed with the holy oil. ²⁶ But if the manslayer at any time goes outside the limits of the city of refuge where he fled, ²⁷ and the avenger of blood finds him outside the limits of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the manslayer, he shall not be guilty of ^[b]blood, ²⁸ because he should have remained 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.

²⁹ ‘And these things shall be ^(T)a statute of judgment to you throughout your generations in all your dwellings. ³⁰ Whoever kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the ^(U)testimony of witnesses; but one witness is not sufficient testimony against a person for the death penalty. ³¹ Moreover you shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall surely be put to death. ³² And you shall take 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 priest. ³³ So you shall not pollute the land where you are; for blood ^(V)defiles the land, and no ^[c]atonement can be made for the land, for the blood that is shed on it, except ^(W)by the blood of him who shed it. ³⁴ Therefore ^(X)do not defile the land which you inhabit, in the midst of which I dwell; for ^(Y)I the Lord dwell among the children of Israel.’ ”

Three Cities of Refuge^(A)

19 “When the Lord your God ^(B)has cut off the nations whose land the Lord your God is giving you, and you dispossess them and dwell in their cities and in their houses, ^2 (C)you shall separate three cities for yourself in the midst of your land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess. ³ You shall prepare roads for yourself, and divide into three parts the territory of your land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, that any manslayer may flee there.

⁴ “And ^(D)this is the case of the manslayer who flees there, that he may live: Whoever kills his neighbor ^[a]unintentionally, not having hated him in time past— ⁵ as when a man goes to the woods with his neighbor to cut timber, and his hand swings a stroke with the ax to cut down the tree, and the head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies—he shall flee to one of these cities and live; ^6 (E)lest the avenger of blood, while his anger is hot, pursue the manslayer and overtake him, because the way is long, and kill him, though he was not deserving of death, since he had not hated the victim in time past. ⁷ Therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall separate three cities for yourself.’

⁸ “Now if the Lord your God ^(F)enlarges your territory, as He swore to ^(G)your fathers, and gives you the land which He promised to give to your fathers, ⁹ and if you keep all these commandments and do them, which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and to walk always in His ways, ^(H)then you shall add three more cities for yourself besides these three, ^10 (I)lest innocent blood be shed in the midst of your land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and thus guilt of bloodshed be upon you.

¹¹ “But ^(J)if anyone hates his neighbor, lies in wait for him, rises against him and strikes him mortally, so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities, ¹² then the elders of his city shall send and bring him from there, and deliver him over to the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die. ^13 (K)Your eye shall not pity him, ^(L)but you shall ^[b]put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with you.

Property Boundaries

^14 (M)“You shall not remove your neighbor’s landmark, which the men of old have set, in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess.

The Cities of Refuge^(A)

20 The Lord also spoke to Joshua, saying, ² “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ^(B)‘Appoint^[a] for yourselves cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses, ³ that the slayer who kills a person accidentally or unintentionally may flee there; and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood. ⁴ And when he flees to one of those cities, and stands at the entrance of the gate of the city, and ^[b]declares his case in the hearing of the elders of that city, they shall take him into the city as one of them, and give him a place, that he may dwell among them. ^5 (C)Then if the avenger of blood pursues him, they shall not deliver the slayer into his hand, because he struck his neighbor unintentionally, but did not hate him beforehand. ⁶ And he shall dwell in that city ^(D)until he stands before the congregation for judgment, and until the death of the one who is high priest in those days. Then the slayer may return and come to his own city and his own house, to the city from which he fled.’ ”

⁷ So they appointed ^(E)Kedesh in Galilee, in the mountains of Naphtali, ^(F)Shechem in the mountains of Ephraim, and ^(G)Kirjath Arba (which is Hebron) in ^(H)the mountains of Judah. ⁸ And on the other side of the Jordan, by Jericho eastward, they assigned ^(I)Bezer in the wilderness on the plain, from the tribe of Reuben, ^(J)Ramoth in Gilead, from the tribe of Gad, and ^(K)Golan in Bashan, from the tribe of Manasseh. ^9 (L)These were the cities appointed for all the children of Israel and for the stranger who ^[c]dwelt among them, that whoever killed a person accidentally might flee there, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood ^(M)until he stood before the congregation.