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the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho, the Lord said to Moses, 2 “Command the Israelites to give the Levites cities to live in from the inheritance the Israelites will possess. You are to also give the Levites pasturelands around the cities. 3 The cities will be for them to live in, and their pasturelands will be for their cattle, livestock, and all their other animals.
4 “The pasturelands of the cities that you are to give to the Levites will extend from the wall of the city outward a thousand cubits on every side. 5 You are to measure outside the city on the east side two thousand cubits, on the south side two thousand cubits, on the west side two thousand cubits, and on the north side two thousand cubits, with the city in the centre. This will belong to them as pastureland for the cities.
6 “The cities that you give to the Levites are to include six cities of refuge, to which a person who has killed someone may flee. In addition to these, you are to give forty-two other cities. 7 The total number of cities you must give the Levites will be forty-eight, together with their pasturelands. 8 Of the cities that you will give from the possession of the Israelites, you are to take many from the larger tribes, and fewer from the smaller tribes. Each tribe is to give some of its cities to the Levites in proportion to the inheritance it receives.”
9 Then the Lord said to Moses, 10 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 11 then you must select cities to serve as cities of refuge for you, so that a person who has killed someone accidentally may flee there. 12 They will be cities of refuge for you from the avenger, so that a person who kills someone may not die until he stands trial before the assembly. 13 The cities you select will be your six cities of refuge. 14 You are to select three cities on this side of the Jordan and three cities in the land of Canaan to be cities of refuge. 15 These six cities will serve as a place of refuge for the Israelites, or for foreign residents or any temporary resident among them, so that anyone who has killed a person accidentally may flee there.
16 ‘If anyone strikes another person with a iron object so that he dies, he is a murderer; the murderer must be put to death. 17 Or if anyone has in his hand a stone that could kill, and he strikes down another person who dies, he is a murderer; the murderer must be put to death. 18 Or if anyone has a wooden object in his hand and he strikes down another person who die, he is a murderer; the murderer must be put to death. 19 The avenger of blood is to put the murderer to death himself; when he finds him, he must put him to death. 20 Likewise, if anyone pushes another person out of hatred or throws something at him with malicious intent so that he dies, 21 or if in hostility someone strikes another person with his fist so he dies, then the one who struck the blow must be put to death; he is a murderer. The avenger of blood must put the murderer to death when he finds him.
22 ‘However, if someone pushes another person without hostility, or throws an object at him without malicious intent 23 or, without seeing him, drops a stone on him that could kill a person, and causes his death, but he wasn’t his enemy or trying to harm him, 24 then the assembly is to judge between the slayer and the avenger of blood according to these ordinances. 25 The assembly must protect the one accused of the killing from the hand of the avenger of blood. Then the assembly must return him to the city refuge where he had fled to, and he will live there until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil.
26 ‘But if the one who killed another person ever goes outside the boundary of the city of refuge he fled to, 27 and the avenger of blood finds him outside the boundary of his city of refuge and kills him, the avenger of blood will not be guilty of bloodshed. 28 The person who killed another must stay in the city of refuge until the death of the high priest. Only after the death of the high priest may he return to the land of his possession.
29 ‘These instructions are to be a statutory ordinance for you throughout the generations to come, wherever you live.
30 ‘If anyone kills a person, the murderer must be put to death only on the evidence of witnesses, But no one is to be put to death based on the testimony of only one witness.
31 ‘You must not accept a ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of killing another person. He must be put to death.
32 ‘Nor can you accept a ransom for the person who has fled to a city of refuge, and so allow him to return and live on his own land before the death of the high priest.
33 ‘You must not pollute the land where you are; for bloodshed pollutes the land, and atonement cannot be made for the land where blood has been shed, except by the blood of the person who shed it. 34 Do not defile the land where you live and where I dwell, for I, the Lord, dwell among the Israelites’.”