Joshua 20

The Lord also spake unto Joshua, saying, ²Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ^aAppoint out for you cities of refuge, whereof I spake unto you by the hand of Moses: ³that the slayer that ^bkilleth any person unawares and ^cunwittingly may flee thither: and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood. ⁴And when he that doth flee unto one of those cities ^dshall stand at the entering of the gate of the city, and shall declare his cause in the ears of the elders of that city, they shall take him into the city unto them, and give him a place, that he may dwell among them. ⁵And if the avenger of blood pursue after him, then they shall not ^edeliver the slayer up into his hand; because he smote his neighbour ^funwittingly, and hated him not beforetime. ⁶And he shall dwell in that city, ^guntil he stand before the congregation for judgment, and until the death of ^hthe high priest that shall be in those days: then shall the slayer return, and come unto his own city, and unto his own house, unto the city from whence he fled. ⁷And they appointed ⁱKedesh in Galilee in mount Naphtali, and ^jShechem in ^kmount Ephraim, and ^lKirjath-arba, which is Hebron, in the mountain of Judah. ⁸And on the other side Jordan by Jericho eastward, they assigned ^mBezer in the wilderness upon ⁿthe plain out of the tribe of Reuben, and ^oRamoth in Gilead out of the tribe of Gad, and ^pGolan in Bashan out of the tribe of Manasseh. ⁹These were the cities appointed for all the children of Israel, and for ^qthe stranger that sojourneth among them, that whosoever ^rkilleth any person at unawares might flee thither, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, ^suntil he stood before the congregation.

XXI.