²“Tell the people of Israel to choose the cities to go to for safety, just as I directed you through Moses. ³Anyone who kills a person by accident can run there for safety. So can anyone who kills a person without meaning to. The one who is charged with murder will be kept safe from the nearest male relative of the person who was killed.

⁴“Suppose the one who is charged runs for safety to one of those cities. Then he must stand in the entrance of the city gate. He must state his case in front of the elders of that city. They must let him come into their city. They must give him a place to live there.

⁵“Suppose the nearest male relative of the person who was killed comes after him. Then the elders must not hand him over to that relative. That’s because he didn’t mean to kill his neighbor. He didn’t make evil plans to do it.

⁶“He must stay in that city until his case has been brought to the community court. He must stay there until the high priest who is serving at that time dies. Then he can go back to his own home. He can return to the town he ran away from.”

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