Joshua 20:1–6

The Cities of Refuge

¹Then Yahweh spoke to Joshua, saying,

²“Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘¹Designate ^athe cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you by the hand of Moses,

³that the manslayer who strikes down any person unintentionally, without premeditation, may flee there, and they shall become for you as a refuge from the avenger of blood.

⁴‘And he shall flee to one of these cities and shall stand at the entrance of the ^agate of the city and speak his case in the hearing of the elders of that city; and they shall ¹take him into the city to them and give him a place, so that he may live among them.

⁵‘Now ^aif the avenger of blood pursues him, then they shall not surrender the manslayer into his hand because he struck his neighbor without premeditation and did not hate him beforehand.

⁶‘And he shall live in that city ^auntil he stands before the congregation for judgment, until the death of the one who is high priest in those days. Then the manslayer shall return and come to his own city and to his own house, to the city from which he fled.’”