Joshua 20:3-5

New International Reader's Version

³ Anyone who kills a person by accident can run there for safety. So can anyone who kills a person without meaning to. The one charged with murder will be kept safe from the nearest male relative of the person killed. ⁴ Suppose those who are charged with murder run for safety to one of these cities. Then they must stand in the entrance of the city gate. They must state their case in front of the elders of that city. The elders must let them come into their city. The elders must provide a place for them to live in their city. ⁵ Suppose the nearest male relative of the person killed chases the one charged with murder. Then the elders must not hand them over to that relative. That’s because that person didn’t mean to kill their neighbor. They didn’t make evil plans to do it.