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¹ And Jehovah spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab, beside Jordan, near Jericho, saying,² Command the sons of Israel that they give to the Levites cities to live in, from the land of their possessions, and you shall give to the Levites open land for the cities.³ And they shall have the cities to live in, and their open lands shall be for their livestock, and for their substance, and for all their animals.⁴ And the open land around the cities which you shall give to the Levites shall be from the wall of the city and outward a thousand cubits all around.⁵ And you shall measure outside the city for the east side two thousand cubits, and for the south side two thousand cubits, and on the north side two thousand cubits, and for the west side two thousand cubits; the city being in the middle. Thisshall be to them the open land around the cities.⁶ And the cities which you shall give to the Levites shall be the six cities of refuge which you shall give for the manslayer that he may flee there; and besides them you shall give forty two cities.⁷ All the cities which you shall give to the Levites shall be forty eight cities, them and the open land around them.⁸ And you shall give the cities from the possession of the sons of Israel. From the many you shall increase, and take away from the few. According to its inheritance which it inherits each tribe shall give of its cities to the Levites.

⁹ And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,¹⁰ Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, When you pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan,¹¹ then you shall choose cities to be cities of refuge for you, so that the manslayer may flee there, he that kills a person through error.¹² And the cities shall be to you for refuge from the kinsman avenger, that the manslayer may not die until he stands before the congregation for judgment.¹³ As to the cities which you shall give six shall be cities of refuge for you.¹⁴ You shall give three of the cities beyond the Jordan, and you shall give three of the cities in the land of Canaan; they shall be cities of refuge.¹⁵ These six cities shall be for a refuge to the sons of Israel, and to an alien, and to a sojourner in their midst, that any person who kills anyone unawares may flee there.¹⁶ And if he strikes him with an instrument of iron, and he dies, he is a murderer; dying the murderer shall die.¹⁷ And if he strikes him with a stone in the hand, by which he dies, and he dies, he is a murderer; dying the murderer shall die.¹⁸ And if he strikes him with a wooden instrument in the hand, by which he dies, and he dies, he is a murderer; dying the murderer shall die.¹⁹ The avenger of blood shall cause the murderer to die; when he meets with him, he shall cause him to die.²⁰ And if he pushes him down, or has thrown at him by lying in wait, and he dies;²¹ or if he has struck him with his hand in enmity, and he dies, the striker shall certainly be put to death; he is a murderer. When the avenger of blood meets him he shall put to death the murderer.²² And if in an instant he pushed him without enmity, or has thrown at him anything without lying in wait;²³ or with any stone without seeing, by which he dies, and has caused it to fall on him, and he dies, and he is not an enemy to him, nor seeking his evil;²⁴ then the congregation shall judge between the striker and the avenger of blood, by these judgments.²⁵ And the congregation shall deliver the manslayer out of the avenger of blood's hand. And the congregation shall return him to the city of refuge to which he had fled, and he shall live in it until the high priest dies, he who was anointed withthe holy oil.²⁶ But if the manslayer at all goes out from the border of the city of his refuge, there to which he has fled,²⁷ and the avenger of blood finds him outside the border of the city of his refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the manslayer, there shall be no blood guiltiness to him,²⁸ because he should have dwelt in the city of his refuge until the death of the high priest. And after the death of the high priest the manslayer may return to the land of his possession.²⁹ And these things shall be to you for a statute of judgment for your generations, in all your dwellings.³⁰ Whoever kills any person, the murderer shall be put to death by the mouth of witnesses. And one witness shall not testify against a person, to die.³¹ And you shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer; he is punishable for death, for dying he shall die.³² And you shall take no ransom for him to flee to the city of his refuge, to return to dwell in the land, until the death of the priest.³³ And you shall not pollute the land in which you are , for blood pollutes the land. And no ransom is to be taken for the land for blood which is shed in it, except for the blood of him who sheds it;³⁴ and you shall not defile the land in which you are living. I dwell in its midst, for I, Jehovah, am dwelling among the sons of Israel.