Cities of Refuge

⁶ And the cities which you shall give to the Levites shall be the ^(A)six cities of refuge, which you shall give for the manslayer to flee to; and in addition to them you shall give forty-two cities. ⁷ All the cities which you shall give to the Levites shall be ^(B)forty-eight cities, ^[a]together with their pasture lands. ^8 (C)Now as for the cities which you shall give from the possession of the sons of Israel, you shall take more from the larger, and you shall take less from the smaller; each shall give some of his cities to the Levites in proportion to his possession which he inherits.”

⁹ Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁰ “^(D)Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, ^11 (E)then you shall select for yourselves cities to be your ^(F)cities of refuge, that the manslayer who has struck down any person ^(G)unintentionally may flee there. ^12 (H)And the cities shall be for you as a refuge from the avenger, so that the manslayer will not die until he stands before the congregation for judgment. ¹³ And the cities which you are to give shall be your six cities of refuge. ¹⁴ You ^(I)shall give three cities across the Jordan and three cities ^[b]in the land of Canaan; they are to be cities of refuge. ¹⁵ These six cities shall be for refuge for the sons of Israel and for the sojourner and for the foreign resident among them; that anyone who strikes a person down ^(J)unintentionally may flee there.

¹⁶ ‘^(K)But if he struck him down with an iron object, so that he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. ¹⁷ And if he struck him down with a stone in the hand, by which he would die, and as a result he died, he is a murderer; the murderer ^(L)shall surely be put to death. ¹⁸ Or if he struck him with a wooden object in the hand, by which he would die, and as a result he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. ¹⁹ The blood avenger himself shall put the murderer to death; he shall put him to death when he meets him. ^20 (M)And if he pushed him of hatred or threw something at him ^(N)lying in wait and as a result he died, ²¹ or if he struck him down with his hand in enmity, and as a result he died, the one who struck him shall surely be put to death; he is a murderer; the blood avenger shall put the murderer to death when he meets him.

²² ‘^(O)But if he pushed him suddenly without enmity or threw something at him without lying in wait, ²³ or with any stone—by which one might die, yet without seeing—and it fell upon him, and he died, but he was not his enemy nor seeking his injury, ²⁴ then ^(P)the congregation shall judge between the ^[c]slayer and the blood avenger according to these legal judgments. ²⁵ And the congregation shall deliver the manslayer from the hand of the blood avenger, and the congregation shall restore him to his city of refuge to which he fled; and he shall live in it until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil. ²⁶ But if the manslayer at any time goes beyond the border of his city of refuge to which he may flee, ²⁷ and the blood avenger finds him outside the border of his city of refuge, and the blood avenger kills the manslayer, he will not be guilty of 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 shall return to the land of his possession.

²⁹ ‘And these things shall be for a ^(Q)statutory judgment to you throughout your generations in all your places of habitation.

³⁰ ‘^(R)If anyone strikes down a person, the murderer shall be put to death at the mouth of witnesses, but ^(S)no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness. ³¹ Moreover, you shall not take ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall surely be put to death. ³² And you shall not take ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge, that he may return to live in the land ^[d]before the death of the priest. ^33 (T)So you shall not pollute the land in which you are; for blood pollutes the land, and no propitiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed on it, except ^(U)by the blood of him who shed it. ³⁴ And you shall not ^(V)defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which ^(W)I dwell; for I Yahweh am dwelling in the midst of the sons of Israel.’”

^41 (A)Then Moses set apart three cities across the Jordan to the east toward the sunrise, ⁴² that a manslayer might flee there, who slew his neighbor ^[a]without premeditation, ^[b]not hating him previously; so he shall flee to one of these cities that he might live: ^43 (B)Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau for the Reubenites, and Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites.

^2 (A)you shall set apart three cities for yourself in the midst of your land, which Yahweh your God gives you to ^[a]possess. ³ You shall prepare the ^[b]roads for yourself, and divide into three parts the territory of your land which Yahweh your God will give you to inherit, ^[c]so that any manslayer may flee there.

⁴ “^(B)Now this is the case of the manslayer who may flee there and live: when he strikes down his friend ^[d]without premeditation, ^[e]not hating him previously— ⁵ as when a man goes into the forest with his friend to cut wood, and his hand ^[f]swings the axe to cut down the tree, and the iron head slips off the ^[g]handle and ^[h]strikes his friend so that he dies—he may flee to one of these cities and live; ⁶ lest the avenger of blood pursue the manslayer when his heart is ^[i]angry, and overtake him, because the way is long, and ^[j]strike down his life, though he was not deserving of death, since he had not hated him previously. ⁷ Therefore, I am commanding you, saying, ‘You shall set apart three cities for yourself.’

⁸ “Now if Yahweh your God ^(C)enlarges your territory, just as He has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land which He ^[k]promised to give to your fathers— ⁹ if you ^[l]be careful to do all this commandment which I am commanding you today, ^(D)to love Yahweh your God and to walk in His ways all your days—^(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 Yahweh your God gives you as an inheritance, and ^(F)bloodguiltiness be on you.

¹¹ “But ^(G)if there is a man who hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and rises up against him and strikes down ^[m]his life so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities, ¹² then the elders of his city shall send and take him from there and give him over into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die. ^13 [n](H)You shall not pity him, but ^(I)you shall purge the blood of the innocent from Israel, that it may go well with you.

Statutes About Boundaries and Witnesses

¹⁴ “^(J)You shall not move your neighbor’s boundary mark, which the ancestors have set, in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land that Yahweh your God gives you to ^[o]possess.

¹⁵ “^(K)A single witness shall not rise up against a man on account of any iniquity or any sin ^[p]which he has committed; at the mouth of two or three witnesses a matter shall be established. ^16 (L)If a malicious witness rises up against a man to ^[q]accuse him of ^[r]wrongdoing, ¹⁷ then both the men who have the dispute shall stand ^(M)before Yahweh, before the priests and the judges who will be in office in those days. ¹⁸ And the judges ^(N)shall inquire thoroughly, and behold, if the witness is a false witness and he has ^[s]accused his brother falsely, ¹⁹ then ^(O)you shall do to him just as he had intended to do to his brother. Thus you shall purge the evil from among you. ^20 (P)And the rest will hear and be afraid and will never again do such an evil thing among you. ²¹ Thus ^(Q)your eye shall not show pity: ^(R)life for life, ^(S)eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.