1When Yahweh your God removes the nations whose land he is giving you, and you take their place and live in their cities and houses,
2you must set aside three cities for yourselves in the middle of the land that Yahweh your God is giving you to possess.
3You must prepare the roads and divide the territory that Yahweh your God is giving you as an inheritance into three regions, so that any killer can flee there.
4This is the rule for a killer who flees there and lives: If someone kills their neighbor unintentionally, without having hated them in the past—
5for instance, if a man goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and as he swings the axe to chop down a tree, the axe head flies off the handle and hits his neighbor, killing him—that person may flee to one of these cities and live.
6Otherwise, an avenger of blood, whose anger is hot, might pursue the killer. Because the way is long, the avenger might overtake him and strike him dead, even though the killer was not deserving of death, since he had not hated the other person in the past.
7That is why I command you to set aside three cities for yourselves.
8If Yahweh your God expands your territory, as he swore to your ancestors, and gives you all the land he promised to give them;
9If you carefully obey all these commands I'm giving you today—to love Yahweh your God and always follow his ways—then you may add three more cities for yourselves, in addition to these three.
10This is to prevent innocent people from being killed in the land Yahweh your God is giving you as an inheritance, which would make you guilty of their deaths.
11But if someone hates his neighbor, waits in ambush for him, attacks him, and strikes him dead, then flees to one of these cities,
12the elders of his city must send for him, bring him back from there, and hand him over to the avenger of blood, so he can be put to death.
13You must show him no mercy. You must remove the guilt of innocent blood from Israel so that things go well for you.
14You must not move your neighbor's boundary marker, which people in the past set, in the inheritance you receive in the land Yahweh your God is giving you to own.
15A single witness is not enough to accuse someone of any crime or sin. A charge must be confirmed by two or three witnesses.
16If a dishonest witness testifies falsely against someone, accusing them of wrongdoing,
17then both men involved in the dispute must stand before Yahweh, before the priests and judges who are serving at that time.
18The judges must investigate carefully. If they find that the witness is lying and has testified falsely against his fellow Israelite,
19then you must do to him what he intended to do to his fellow Israelite. In this way, you will remove evil from among you.
20The remaining people will hear about it, be afraid, and never again commit such an evil act among you.
21You must show no pity: a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot.