1Yahweh spoke to Moses on the plains of Moab, by the Jordan River near Jericho. He said,
2“Tell the people of Israel to give the Levites cities to live in from their own inherited land. You must also give the Levites pasturelands around these cities.
3They will have cities to live in, and their pasturelands will be for their cattle, their possessions, and all their animals.
4“The pasturelands for the cities you give to the Levites must extend one thousand cubits (about 1,500 feet) out from the city wall in every direction.
5Outside the city, measure two thousand cubits (about 3,000 feet) to the east, two thousand cubits to the south, two thousand cubits to the west, and two thousand cubits to the north, with the city in the center. These will be the pasturelands for their cities.
6“The cities you give the Levites will include the six cities of refuge, where someone who has killed a person can flee for safety. In addition to these, you must give them forty-two other cities.
7In total, all the cities you give the Levites, along with their pasturelands, will be forty-eight cities.
8When you give cities from the inheritance of the people of Israel, take more from tribes with larger inheritances and fewer from tribes with smaller inheritances. Each tribe must give some of its cities to the Levites, based on the size of its inheritance.”
9Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
10“Speak to the people of Israel and tell them, ‘When you cross the Jordan River into the land of Canaan,
11you must set aside cities to be your cities of refuge. A person who accidentally kills someone may flee there.
12These cities will be a safe place from the avenger, so that the killer won't die before standing trial before the community.
13The cities you set aside will be six cities of refuge for you.
14You must designate three cities on the other side of the Jordan River and three cities in the land of Canaan. These will be cities of refuge.
15These six cities will be places of refuge for the people of Israel, for foreigners living among you, and for temporary residents, so that anyone who accidentally kills someone may flee there.
16“‘But if someone strikes another person with an iron weapon and that person dies, the attacker is a murderer. The murderer must be put to death.
17If someone strikes another person with a stone in their hand, a stone that could kill, and that person dies, the attacker is a murderer. The murderer must be put to death.
18Or if someone strikes another person with a wooden weapon in their hand, a weapon that could kill, and that person dies, the attacker is a murderer. The murderer must be put to death.
19The blood avenger himself must put the murderer to death; when he finds him, he must kill him.
20If he pushed them intentionally, or ambushed them, causing their death,
21or if he aggressively struck them with his hand, causing their death, the person who struck them must be put to death. They are a murderer. The closest relative, seeking justice, must kill the murderer when they find them.
22“However, if they pushed someone accidentally, without hatred, or threw something at them unintentionally,
23or unknowingly hit them with a stone that could cause death, and the person died, but the first person was not their enemy and didn't want to harm them,
24then the community must decide between the person who caused the death and the closest relative seeking justice, following these rules.
25The community must protect the unintentional killer from the closest relative seeking justice and return the killer to their city of refuge, where they had fled. The killer must live there until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with sacred oil.
26“But if the unintentional killer ever leaves the boundaries of their city of refuge,
27and the closest relative seeking justice finds them outside the city of refuge and kills them, the relative will not be considered guilty of murder,
28because the killer should have stayed in their city of refuge until the death of the high priest. After the high priest dies, the unintentional killer may return to their own property.
29“These rules will be a lasting law for you and your descendants, wherever you live.”
30“Anyone who murders another person must be put to death based on the testimony of witnesses; but a single witness is not enough to sentence someone to death.
31“Also, you must not accept payment to spare the life of a murderer who deserves death; they must be put to death.
32“You must not accept payment to allow someone who has fled to a city of refuge to return home before the death of the priest.
33“You must not defile the land where you live, because bloodshed pollutes the land. The only way to cleanse the land of the blood shed in it is by the death of the person who shed it.
34Do not make the land you live in unclean, the land where I reside; for I, Yahweh, live among the people of Israel.”