Deuteronomy 19:4–10

⁴‘And this is the matter of the man-slayer who fleeth thither, and hath lived: He who smiteth his neighbour unknowingly, and is not hating him heretofore, ⁵even he who cometh in with his neighbour into a forest to hew wood, and his hand hath driven with an axe to cut the tree, and the iron hath slipped from the wood, and hath met his neighbour, and he hath died—he doth flee unto one of these cities, and hath lived, ⁶lest the redeemer of blood pursue after the man-slayer when his heart is hot, and hath overtaken him (because the way is great), and hath smitten him—the life, and he hath no sentence of death, for he is not hating him heretofore; ⁷therefore I am commanding thee, saying, Three cities thou dost separate to thee.

⁸‘And if Jehovah thy God doth enlarge thy border, as He hath sworn to thy fathers, and hath given to thee all the land which He hath spoken to give to thy fathers— ⁹when thou keepest all this command to do it, which I am commanding thee to-day, to love Jehovah thy God, and to walk in His ways all the days—then thou hast added to thee yet three cities to these three; ¹⁰and innocent blood is not shed in the midst of thy land which Jehovah thy God is giving to thee—an inheritance, and there hath been upon thee blood.