Joshua 20:1–9

Cities of Refuge

20:1–9Ref—Nu 35:9–34; Dt 4:41–43; 19:1–14

20Then the Lord said to Joshua: ²“Tell the Israelites to designate the cities of refuge, as I instructed you through Moses, ³so that anyone who kills a person accidentally and unintentionally^b may flee there and find protection from the avenger of blood.^{c 4}When they flee to one of these cities, they are to stand in the entrance of the city gate^d and state their case before the elders^e of that city. Then the elders are to admit the fugitive into their city and provide a place to live among them. ⁵If the avenger of blood comes in pursuit, the elders must not surrender the fugitive, because the fugitive killed their neighbor unintentionally and without malice aforethought. ⁶They are to stay in that city until they have stood trial before the assembly^f and until the death of the high priest who is serving at that time. Then they may go back to their own home in the town from which they fled.”

⁷So they set apart Kedesh^g in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, Shechem^h in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath Arbaⁱ (that is, Hebron^j) in the hill country of Judah.^{k 8}East of the Jordan (on the other side from Jericho) they designated Bezer^l in the wilderness on the plateau in the tribe of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead^m in the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashanⁿ in the tribe of Manasseh. ⁹Any of the Israelites or any foreigner residing among them who killed someone accidentally^o could flee to these designated cities and not be killed by the avenger of blood prior to standing trial before the assembly.^p