Deuteronomy 19:6–12

⁶lest the avenger of blood pursue the manslayer when his heart is ¹angry, and overtake him, because the way is long, and ²strike down his life, though he was not deserving of death, since he had not hated him previously.

⁷“Therefore, I am commanding you, saying, ‘You shall set apart three cities for yourself.’

⁸“Now if Yahweh your God ^aenlarges your territory, just as He has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land which He ¹promised to give to your fathers—

⁹if you ¹be careful to do all this commandment which I am commanding you today, ^ato love Yahweh your God and to walk in His ways all your days—^bthen you shall add three more cities for yourself, besides these three.

¹⁰“So innocent blood will not be shed in the midst of your land which Yahweh your God gives you as an inheritance, and ^abloodguiltiness be on you.

¹¹“But ^aif there is a man who hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and rises up against him and strikes down ¹his life so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities,

¹²then the elders of his city shall send and take him from there and give him over into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die.