Deuteronomy 19:2–9

^2ayou shall set aside three cities for yourself in the midst of your land, which the Lord your God gives you to ¹possess.

³“You shall prepare the ¹roads for yourself, and divide into three parts the territory of your land which the Lord your God will give you as a possession, ²so that any manslayer may flee there.

⁴“^aNow this is the case of the manslayer who may flee there and live: when he ¹kills his friend ²unintentionally, ³not hating him previously—

⁵as when a man goes into the forest with his friend to cut wood, and his hand ¹swings the axe to cut down the tree, and the iron head slips off the ²handle and ³strikes his friend so that he dies—he may flee to one of these cities and live;

⁶otherwise the avenger of blood might pursue the manslayer ¹in the heat of his anger, and overtake him, because the way is long, and ²take his life, though he was not deserving of death, since he had not hated him previously.

⁷“Therefore, I command you, saying, ‘You shall set aside three cities for yourself.’

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

⁹if you ¹carefully observe all this commandment which I command you today, ^ato love the Lord your God, and to walk in His ways always—^bthen you shall add three more cities for yourself, besides these three.