Deuteronomy 19:1–13

Three Cities of Refuge

19“When the Lord your God ^ahas cut off the nations whose land the Lord your God is giving you, and you dispossess them and dwell in their cities and in their houses, ^2byou shall separate three cities for yourself in the midst of your land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess. ³You shall prepare roads for yourself, and divide into three parts the territory of your land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, that any manslayer may flee there.

⁴“And ^cthis is the case of the manslayer who flees there, that he may live: Whoever kills his neighbor ¹unintentionally, not having hated him in time past—⁵as when a man goes to the woods with his neighbor to cut timber, and his hand swings a stroke with the ax to cut down the tree, and the head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies—he shall flee to one of these cities and live; ^6dlest the avenger of blood, while his anger is hot, pursue the manslayer and overtake him, because the way is long, and kill him, though he was not deserving of death, since he had not hated the victim in time past. ⁷Therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall separate three cities for yourself.’

⁸“Now if the Lord your God ^eenlarges your territory, as He swore to ^fyour fathers, and gives you the land which He promised to give to your fathers, ⁹and if you keep all these commandments and do them, which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and to walk always in His ways, ^gthen you shall add three more cities for yourself besides these three, ^10hlest innocent blood be shed in the midst of your land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and thus guilt of bloodshed be upon you.

¹¹“But ⁱif anyone hates his neighbor, lies in wait for him, rises against him and strikes him mortally, so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities, ¹²then the elders of his city shall send and bring him from there, and deliver him over to the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die. ^13jYour eye shall not pity him, ^kbut you shall ²put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with you.