The LORD spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at
Jericho, saying, “Command the people of Israel to give to the
Levites some of the inheritance of their possession as cities for
them to dwell in. And you shall give to the Levites pasturelands
around the cities. The cities shall be theirs to dwell in, and
their pasturelands shall be for their cattle and for their
livestock and for all their beasts. The pasturelands of the cities,
which you shall give to the Levites, shall reach from the wall of
the city outward a thousand cubits all around. And you shall
measure, outside the city, on the east side two thousand cubits,
and on the south side two thousand cubits, and on the west side two
thousand cubits, and on the north side two thousand cubits, the
city being in the middle. This shall belong to them as pastureland
for their cities.
“The cities that you give to the Levites shall be the six cities
of refuge, where you shall permit the manslayer to flee, and in
addition to them you shall give forty-two cities. All the cities
that you give to the Levites shall be forty-eight, with their
pasturelands. And as for the cities that you shall give from the
possession of the people of Israel, from the larger tribes you
shall take many, and from the smaller tribes you shall take few;
each, in proportion to the inheritance that it inherits, shall give
of its cities to the Levites.”
And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of
Israel and say to them, When you cross the Jordan into the land of
Canaan, then you shall select cities to be cities of refuge for
you, that the manslayer who kills any person without intent may
flee there. The cities shall be for you a refuge from the avenger,
that the manslayer may not die until he stands before the
congregation for judgment. And the cities that you give shall be
your six cities of refuge. You shall give three cities beyond the
Jordan, and three cities in the land of Canaan, to be cities of
refuge. These six cities shall be for refuge for the people of
Israel, and for the stranger and for the sojourner among them, that
anyone who kills any person without intent may flee there.
“But if he struck him down with an iron object, so that he died,
he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death. And if he
struck him down with a stone tool that could cause death, and he
died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death. Or if
he struck him down with a wooden tool that could cause death, and
he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death. The
avenger of blood shall himself put the murderer to death; when he
meets him, he shall put him to death. And if he pushed him out of
hatred or hurled something at him, lying in wait, so that he died,
or in enmity struck him down with his hand, so that he died, then
he who struck the blow shall be put to death. He is a murderer. The
avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when he meets him.
“But if he pushed him suddenly without enmity, or hurled anything
on him without lying in wait or used a stone that could cause
death, and without seeing him dropped it on him, so that he died,
though he was not his enemy and did not seek his harm, then the
congregation shall judge between the manslayer and the avenger of
blood, in accordance with these rules. And the congregation shall
rescue the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood, and the
congregation shall restore him to his city of refuge to which he
had fled, and he shall live in it until the death of the high
priest who was anointed with the holy oil. But if the manslayer
shall at any time go beyond the boundaries of his city of refuge to
which he fled, and the avenger of blood finds him outside the
boundaries of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills
the manslayer, he shall not be guilty of blood. For he must remain
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. And these things shall be for a statute and rule
for you throughout your generations in all your dwelling places.
“If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on
the evidence of witnesses. But no person shall be put to death on
the testimony of one witness. Moreover, you shall accept no ransom
for the life of a murderer, who is guilty of death, but he shall be
put to death. And you shall accept 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 high priest. You shall not pollute the land
in which you live, for blood pollutes the land, and no atonement
can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, except
by the blood of the one who shed it. You shall not defile the land
in which you live, in the midst of which I dwell, for I the LORD
dwell in the midst of the people of Israel.”
