1Then the LORD spoke to Joshua. He said,2‘Tell the Israelites to choose the cities to go to for safety, just as I instructed 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 charged with murder will be kept safe from the nearest male relative of the person killed.4Suppose those who are charged with murder run for safety to one of these cities. Then they must stand in the entrance of the city gate. They must state their case in front of the elders of that city. The elders must let them come into their city. The elders must provide a place for them to live in their city.5Suppose the nearest male relative of the person killed chases the one charged with murder. Then the elders must not hand them over to that relative. That’s because that person didn’t mean to kill their neighbour. They didn’t make evil plans to do it.6They must stay in that city until their case has been brought to the community court. They must stay there until the high priest serving at that time dies. Then they can go back to their own home. They can return to the town they ran away from.’7So the Israelites set apart Kedesh in Galilee. It’s in the hill country of Naphtali. They set apart Shechem. It’s in the hill country of Ephraim. They set apart Kiriath Arba. It’s in the hill country of Judah. Kiriath Arba is also called Hebron.8On the east side of the River Jordan near Jericho they chose Bezer. It’s in the desert on the high plains. It’s in the territory of the tribe of Reuben. They chose Ramoth in Gilead. It’s in the territory of the tribe of Gad. They chose Golan in the land of Bashan. It’s in the territory of the tribe of Manasseh.9Suppose you kill someone by accident. Or another Israelite does it. Or an outsider who lives among you does it. Then any of you can run for safety to one of these cities that have been chosen. There you won’t be killed by the nearest male relative of the person killed by accident. First your case must be brought to the community court.
Joshua 20
English Standard Version
The Cities of Refuge
1Then the Lord said to Joshua,2“Say to the people of Israel, ‘Appoint the cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses, (Ex 21:13; Nu 35:6; Nu 35:11; De 4:41; De 19:2)3that the manslayer who strikes any person without intent or unknowingly may flee there. They shall be for you a refuge from the avenger of blood.4He shall flee to one of these cities and shall stand at the entrance of the gate of the city and explain his case to the elders of that city. Then they shall take him into the city and give him a place, and he shall remain with them. (De 21:19; Ru 4:1; Ps 127:5)5And if the avenger of blood pursues him, they shall not give up the manslayer into his hand, because he struck his neighbor unknowingly, and did not hate him in the past.6And he shall remain in that city until he has stood before the congregation for judgment, until the death of him who is high priest at the time. Then the manslayer may return to his own town and his own home, to the town from which he fled.’” (Nu 35:12; Nu 35:24)7So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, and Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah. (Jos 14:13; Jos 21:11; Jos 21:13; Jos 21:21; Jos 21:32; 1Ch 6:76; Lu 1:39)8And beyond the Jordan east of Jericho, they appointed Bezer in the wilderness on the tableland, from the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead, from the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan, from the tribe of Manasseh. (Jos 21:27; Jos 21:36; Jos 21:38; 1Ki 22:3; 1Ch 6:71; 1Ch 6:78)9These were the cities designated for all the people of Israel and for the stranger sojourning among them, that anyone who killed a person without intent could flee there, so that he might not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, till he stood before the congregation. (Nu 35:15)