1Yahweh spoke to Joshua, saying,
2“Tell the people of Israel to set aside the cities of refuge, about which I spoke to you through Moses,
3so that anyone who accidentally or unintentionally kills another person may flee there. These cities will be a safe place for you from anyone seeking revenge for the killing.
4Such a person must flee to one of these cities, stand at the entrance of the city gate, and explain their case to the elders of that city. The elders must take them into the city, give them a place to live, and let them stay among them.
5If the person seeking revenge pursues them, the elders must not hand over the killer, because they killed their neighbor unintentionally and had no previous hatred for them.
6The killer must stay in that city until they stand trial before the community, and until the death of the high priest who is serving at that time. Then the killer may return to their own city and their own home, to the city they fled from.”
7They set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath Arba (also called Hebron) in the hill country of Judah.
8East of the Jordan River, near Jericho, they set aside Bezer in the wilderness on the plain, from the tribe of Reuben. They also set aside Ramoth in Gilead from the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan from the tribe of Manasseh.
9These were the designated cities for all the people of Israel and for the foreigners living among them. Anyone who accidentally killed someone could flee there and not be killed by the avenger of blood, until they had a trial before the community.