Deuteronomy 19:1–13

Laws Concerning Cities of Refuge

19“When ^pthe Lord your God cuts off the nations whose land the Lord your God is giving you, and you dispossess them and dwell in their cities and in their houses, ^2qyou shall set apart three cities for yourselves in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess. ³You shall measure the distances¹ and divide into three parts the area of the land that the Lord your God gives you as a possession, so that any manslayer can flee to them.

⁴“This is the provision for ^rthe manslayer, who by fleeing there may save his life. If anyone kills his neighbor unintentionally without having hated him in the past— ⁵as when someone goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and his hand swings the axe to cut down a tree, and the head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies—he may flee to one of these cities and live, ⁶lest ^sthe avenger of blood in hot anger pursue the manslayer and overtake him, because the way is long, and strike him fatally, though the man did not deserve to die, since he had not hated his neighbor in the past. ⁷Therefore I command you, You shall set apart three cities. ^8tAnd if the Lord your God enlarges your territory, ^uas he has sworn to your fathers, and ^vgives you all the land that he promised to give to your fathers— ⁹provided you are careful to keep all this commandment, which I command you today, by loving the Lord your God and by walking ever in his ways—^wthen you shall add three other cities to these three, ¹⁰lest innocent blood be shed in your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, and so the guilt of bloodshed be upon you.

¹¹“But if anyone hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and attacks him ^xand strikes him fatally so that he dies, and he flees into one of these cities, ¹²then the elders of his city shall send and take him from there, and hand him over to the avenger of blood, so that he may die. ^13yYour eye shall not pity him, ^zbut you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood² from Israel, so that it may be well with you.