Cities of Refuge

⁶ The cities which you shall give to the Levites shall be the ^(A)six cities of refuge, which you shall provide for the one who commits manslaughter to flee to; and in addition to them you shall give forty-two cities.

^2 (A)you shall set aside for yourself three cities in the midst of your land which the Lord your God is giving you to ^[a]possess. ³ You shall prepare the ^[b]roads for yourself, and divide into three regions the territory of your land which the Lord your God will give you as an inheritance, ^[c]so that anyone who commits manslaughter may flee there.

⁴ “^(B)Now this is the case of the one who commits manslaughter, who may flee there and live: when he ^[d]kills his friend ^[e]unintentionally, ^[f]not hating him previously— ⁵ as when a person goes into the forest with his friend to cut wood, and his hand ^[g]swings the axe to cut down the tree, and the iron head slips off the ^[h]handle and ^[i]strikes his friend so that he dies—he may flee to one of these cities and live. ⁶ Otherwise, the avenger of blood might pursue ^[j]him ^[k]in the heat of his anger, and overtake him because the way is long, and ^[l]take his life, though he was not sentenced to death since he had not hated him previously. ⁷ Therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall set aside for yourself three cities.’

⁸ “And if the Lord your God ^(C)enlarges your territory, just as He has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land that He ^[m]promised to give your fathers— ⁹ if you ^[n]carefully follow all of this commandment which I am commanding you today, ^(D)to love the Lord your God, and to walk in His ways always—^(E)then you shall add three more cities for yourself, besides these three. ¹⁰ So innocent blood will not be shed in the midst of your land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and ^(F)guilt for bloodshed will not be on you.

¹¹ “But ^(G)if there is a person who hates his neighbor, and waits in ambush for him and rises up against him and strikes ^[o]him so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities, ¹² then the elders of his city shall send men and take him from there, and hand him over to the avenger of blood, so that he may die. ^13 [p](H)You shall not pity him, but ^(I)you shall eliminate the guilt for the bloodshed of the innocent from Israel, so that it may go well for you.

⁷ So they ^[a]set apart ^(A)Kedesh in ^[b]Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, and Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in ^(B)the hill country of Judah. ⁸ And beyond the Jordan east of Jericho, they ^[c]designated Bezer in the wilderness on the plain from the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead from the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan from the tribe of Manasseh. ^9 (C)These were the designated cities for all the sons of Israel and for the stranger who resides among them, so that whoever ^[d]kills a person unintentionally may flee there, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood until he stands before the congregation.