Numbers 35:6–15

⁶‘And the cities which ye give to the Levites are the six cities of refuge, which ye give for the fleeing thither of the man-slayer, and besides them ye give forty and two cities; ⁷all the cities which ye give to the Levites are forty and eight cities, them and their suburbs. ⁸And the cities which ye give are of the possession of the sons of Israel, from the many ye multiply, and from the few ye diminish; each, according to his inheritance which they inherit, doth give of his cities to the Levites.’

⁹And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying, ¹⁰‘Speak unto the sons of Israel, and thou hast said unto them, When ye are passing over the Jordan to the land of Canaan, ¹¹and have prepared to yourselves cities—cities of refuge they are to you—then fled thither hath a man-slayer, smiting a person unawares, ¹²and the cities have been to you for a refuge from the redeemer, and the man-slayer doth not die till his standing before the company for judgment.

¹³‘As to the cities which ye give—six are cities of refuge to you; ¹⁴the three of the cities ye give beyond the Jordan, and the three of the cities ye give in the land of Canaan; cities of refuge they are. ¹⁵To sons of Israel, and to a sojourner, and to a settler in their midst, are these six cities for a refuge, for the fleeing thither of any one smiting a person unawares.