Joshua 20

1 And the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying: “Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them:

上主訓示說：「

2 Separate the cities of refuge, about which I spoke to you by the hand of Moses,

你應告訴以色列子民說：他們應向照我藉梅瑟向你們所提及的，指定一些避難城，

3 so that anyone who will have struck down a life unintentionally may flee to them. And so, he may be able to escape from the wrath of a close relative, who is an avenger of blood.

好使無心誤殺人的能逃到那裏去。這些城市作為你們逃避血仇者的地方

4 And when he will have fled to one of these cities, he shall stand before the gate of the city, and he shall speak to the ancients of that city, the things that prove him innocent. And so shall they receive him, and give him a place in which to live.

那誤殺人的，只要逃往這些城中的一座，立於城門口，將自己的事，報告給這城的長老聽；長老就該將他接入城中，給他地方，讓他往在他們中間。

5 And if the avenger of blood will have pursued him, they shall not deliver him into his hands. For he struck down his neighbor unknowingly, one who was not proven to have been his enemy two or three days before.

如果報血仇者追來了，長老不可將他交於報血仇者手中，因為他殺人原是出於無心，素無仇恨。

6 And he shall live in that city, until he stands before judgment in order to render the facts of his case, and until the death of the high priest, whoever it will be in that time. Then the one who killed a man may return, and he may enter his own city and house, from which he had fled.”

殺人者應往在這城內，直到他在會眾前出庭受審，直到現任的大司祭去世之後，方可回到本城本家，即由之逃出城市。」

7 And they decreed Kedesh in Galilee, at mount Naphtali, and Shechem, at mount Ephraim, and Kiriath-Arba, which is Hebron, at mount Judah.

以色列人於是在納斐塔里山區，指定了加里肋亞的刻德士；在厄弗辣因山區指定了舍根；在猶大山區指定了克黎雅特阿爾耳巴，即赫貝龍；

8 And beyond the Jordan, opposite the eastern side of Jericho, they appointed Bezer, which is situated on the plain of the wilderness of the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead of the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan of the tribe of Manasseh.

在約旦河東岸，耶利哥東面，在曠野高原裏，勒烏本支派內指定了貝責爾；在加得支派內，指定了基肋阿得的辣摩特；在默納協支派內，指定了巴商的哥藍。

9 These cities were established for all the sons of Israel, and for the new arrivals who were living among them, so that whoever had struck down a life unintentionally might flee to these, and not die at the hand of a close relative who desires to vindicate the blood that was shed, until he should stand before the people, in order to present his case.

以上是為所有的以色列人和寄他們中間的外方人指定的城市，使凡誤殺人的，能逃往那裏去，在他未出庭受會眾審判以前，不致死在報血仇者的手裏。