Cities of Refuge^(A)

⁴¹ Then Moses set aside three cities east of the Jordan, ⁴² to which anyone who had killed a person could flee if they had unintentionally^(B) killed a neighbor without malice aforethought. They could flee into one of these cities and save their life. ⁴³ The cities were these: Bezer in the wilderness plateau, for the Reubenites; Ramoth^(C) in Gilead, for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, for the Manassites.

Cities of Refuge^(A)

19 When the Lord your God has destroyed the nations whose land he is giving you, and when you have driven them out and settled in their towns and houses,^{(B) 2} then set aside for yourselves three cities in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess. ³ Determine the distances involved and divide into three parts the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, so that a person who kills someone may flee for refuge to one of these cities.

⁴ This is the rule concerning anyone who kills a person and flees there for safety—anyone who kills a neighbor unintentionally, without malice aforethought. ⁵ For instance, a man may go into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and as he swings his ax to fell a tree, the head may fly off and hit his neighbor and kill him. That man may flee to one of these cities and save his life. ⁶ Otherwise, the avenger of blood^(C) might pursue him in a rage, overtake him if the distance is too great, and kill him even though he is not deserving of death, since he did it to his neighbor without malice aforethought. ⁷ This is why I command you to set aside for yourselves three cities.

⁸ If the Lord your God enlarges your territory,^(D) as he promised^(E) on oath to your ancestors, and gives you the whole land he promised them, ⁹ because you carefully follow all these laws I command you today—to love the Lord your God and to walk always in obedience to him^(F)—then you are to set aside three more cities. ¹⁰ Do this so that innocent blood^(G) will not be shed in your land, which the Lord your God is giving you as your inheritance, and so that you will not be guilty of bloodshed.^(H)

¹¹ But if out of hate someone lies in wait, assaults and kills a neighbor,^(I) and then flees to one of these cities, ¹² the killer shall be sent for by the town elders, be brought back from the city, and be handed over to the avenger of blood to die. ¹³ Show no pity.^(J) You must purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood,^(K) so that it may go well with you.

Going to War

20 When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours,^(A) do not be afraid^(B) of them,^(C) because the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with^(D) you. ² When you are about to go into battle, the priest shall come forward and address the army. ³ He shall say: “Hear, Israel: Today you are going into battle against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted^(E) or afraid; do not panic or be terrified by them. ⁴ For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you^(F) to fight^(G) for you against your enemies to give you victory.^(H)”

⁵ The officers shall say to the army: “Has anyone built a new house and not yet begun to live in^(I) it? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else may begin to live in it. ⁶ Has anyone planted^(J) a vineyard and not begun to enjoy it?^(K) Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else enjoy it. ⁷ Has anyone become pledged to a woman and not married her? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else marry her.^(L)” ⁸ Then the officers shall add, “Is anyone afraid or fainthearted? Let him go home so that his fellow soldiers will not become disheartened too.”^{(M) 9} When the officers have finished speaking to the army, they shall appoint commanders over it.

¹⁰ When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace.^{(N) 11} If they accept and open their gates, all the people in it shall be subject^(O) to forced labor^(P) and shall work for you. ¹² If they refuse to make peace and they engage you in battle, lay siege to that city. ¹³ When the Lord your God delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the men in it.^{(Q) 14} As for the women, the children, the livestock^(R) and everything else in the city,^(S) you may take these as plunder^(T) for yourselves. And you may use the plunder the Lord your God gives you from your enemies. ¹⁵ This is how you are to treat all the cities that are at a distance^(U) from you and do not belong to the nations nearby.

¹⁶ However, in the cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes.^{(V) 17} Completely destroy^[a] them—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—as the Lord your God has commanded you. ¹⁸ Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods,^(W) and you will sin^(X) against the Lord your God.

¹⁹ When you lay siege to a city for a long time, fighting against it to capture it, do not destroy its trees by putting an ax to them, because you can eat their fruit. Do not cut them down. Are the trees people, that you should besiege them?^{[b] 20} However, you may cut down trees that you know are not fruit trees^(Y) and use them to build siege works until the city at war with you falls.

Atonement for an Unsolved Murder

21 If someone is found slain, lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who the killer was,^{(Z) 2} your elders and judges shall go out and measure the distance from the body to the neighboring towns. ³ Then the elders of the town nearest the body shall take a heifer that has never been worked and has never worn a yoke^{(AA) 4} and lead it down to a valley that has not been plowed or planted and where there is a flowing stream. There in the valley they are to break the heifer’s neck. ⁵ The Levitical priests shall step forward, for the Lord your God has chosen them to minister and to pronounce blessings^(AB) in the name of the Lord and to decide all cases of dispute and assault.^{(AC) 6} Then all the elders of the town nearest the body shall wash their hands^(AD) over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley, ⁷ and they shall declare: “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it done. ⁸ Accept this atonement for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, Lord, and do not hold your people guilty of the blood of an innocent person.” Then the bloodshed will be atoned for,^{(AE) 9} and you will have purged^(AF) from yourselves the guilt of shedding innocent blood, since you have done what is right in the eyes of the Lord.

A Rebellious Son

¹⁸ If someone has a stubborn and rebellious^(A) son^(B) who does not obey his father and mother^(C) and will not listen to them when they discipline him, ¹⁹ his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. ²⁰ They shall say to the elders, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.” ²¹ Then all the men of his town are to stone him to death.^(D) You must purge the evil^(E) from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.^(F)

Various Laws

²² If someone guilty of a capital offense^(G) is put to death and their body is exposed on a pole, ²³ you must not leave the body hanging on the pole overnight.^(H) Be sure to bury^(I) it that same day, because anyone who is hung on a pole is under God’s curse.^(J) You must not desecrate^(K) the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

⁸ Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.”^[a] While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.^(A)

⁹ Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”^(B)

“I don’t know,^(C)” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

¹⁰ The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.^{(D) 11} Now you are under a curse^(E) and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. ¹² When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you.^(F) You will be a restless wanderer^(G) on the earth.^(H)”

¹³ Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is more than I can bear. ¹⁴ Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence;^(I) I will be a restless wanderer on the earth,^(J) and whoever finds me will kill me.”^(K)

¹⁵ But the Lord said to him, “Not so^[b]; anyone who kills Cain^(L) will suffer vengeance^(M) seven times over.^(N)” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. ¹⁶ So Cain went out from the Lord’s presence^(O) and lived in the land of Nod,^[c] east of Eden.^(P)

Personal Injuries

¹² “Anyone who strikes a person with a fatal blow is to be put to death.^{(A) 13} However, if it is not done intentionally, but God lets it happen, they are to flee to a place^(B) I will designate. ¹⁴ But if anyone schemes and kills someone deliberately,^(C) that person is to be taken from my altar and put to death.^(D)

¹⁶ “‘If anyone strikes someone a fatal blow with an iron object, that person is a murderer; the murderer is to be put to death.^{(A) 17} Or if anyone is holding a stone and strikes someone a fatal blow with it, that person is a murderer; the murderer is to be put to death. ¹⁸ Or if anyone is holding a wooden object and strikes someone a fatal blow with it, that person is a murderer; the murderer is to be put to death. ¹⁹ The avenger of blood^(B) shall put the murderer to death; when the avenger comes upon the murderer, the avenger shall put the murderer to death.^{(C) 20} If anyone with malice aforethought shoves another or throws something at them intentionally^(D) so that they die ²¹ or if out of enmity one person hits another with their fist so that the other dies, that person is to be put to death;^(E) that person is a murderer. The avenger of blood^(F) shall put the murderer to death when they meet.

²² “‘But if without enmity someone suddenly pushes another or throws something at them unintentionally^{(G) 23} or, without seeing them, drops on them a stone heavy enough to kill them, and they die, then since that other person was not an enemy and no harm was intended, ²⁴ the assembly^(H) must judge between the accused and the avenger of blood according to these regulations. ²⁵ The assembly must protect the one accused of murder from the avenger of blood and send the accused back to the city of refuge to which they fled. The accused must stay there until the death of the high priest,^(I) who was anointed^(J) with the holy oil.^(K)

²⁶ “‘But if the accused ever goes outside the limits of the city of refuge to which they fled ²⁷ and the avenger of blood finds them outside the city, the avenger of blood may kill the accused without being guilty of murder. ²⁸ The accused must stay in the city of refuge until the death of the high priest; only after the death of the high priest may they return to their own property.

²⁹ “‘This is to have the force of law^(L) for you throughout the generations to come,^(M) wherever you live.^(N)

³⁰ “‘Anyone who kills a person is to be put to death as a murderer only on the testimony of witnesses. But no one is to be put to death on the testimony of only one witness.^(O)

³¹ “‘Do not accept a ransom^(P) for the life of a murderer, who deserves to die. They are to be put to death.

³² “‘Do not accept a ransom for anyone who has fled to a city of refuge and so allow them to go back and live on their own land before the death of the high priest.

³³ “‘Do not pollute the land where you are. Bloodshed pollutes the land,^(Q) and atonement cannot be made for the land on which blood has been shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it. ³⁴ Do not defile the land^(R) where you live and where I dwell,^(S) for I, the Lord, dwell among the Israelites.’”

⁹ “‘Will you steal^(A) and murder,^(B) commit adultery^(C) and perjury,^[a](D) burn incense to Baal^(E) and follow other gods^(F) you have not known,