Joshua 20

1 The LORD also spoke to Joshua, saying,

And the Lord said to Joshua,

2 Speak to the children of Israel, saying, Appoint for you cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you by the hand of Moses:

Say to the children of Israel, Let certain towns be marked out as safe places, as I said to you by the mouth of Moses,

3 That the slayer that killeth [any] person unawares [and] ignorantly, may flee thither: and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood.

So that any man who in error and without design has taken the life of another, may go in flight to them: and they will be safe places for you from him who has the right of punishment for blood.

4 And when he that doth flee to one of those cities shall stand at the entering of the gate of the city, and shall declare his cause in the ears of the elders of that city, they shall take him into the city to them, and give him a place, that he may dwell among them.

And if anyone goes in flight to one of those towns, and comes into the public place of the town, and puts his cause before the responsible men of the town, they will take him into the town and give him a place among them where he may be safe.

5 And if the avenger of blood shall pursue him, then they shall not deliver the slayer into his hand; because he smote his neighbor ignorantly, and had not hated him before.

And if the one who has the right of punishment comes after him, they are not to give the taker of life up to him; because he was the cause of his neighbour's death without designing it and not in hate.

6 And he shall dwell in that city, until he shall stand before the congregation for judgment, [and] until the death of the high-priest that shall be in those days: then shall the slayer return, and come to his own city, and to his own house, to the city from whence he fled.

And he is to go on living in that town till he has to come before the meeting of the people to be judged; (till the death of him who is high priest at that time: ) then the taker of life may come back to his town and to his house, to the town from which he had gone in flight.

7 And they appointed Kedesh in Galilee in mount Naphtali, and Shechem in mount Ephraim, and Kirjath-arba, (which [is] Hebron) in the mountain of Judah.

So they made selection of Kedesh in Galilee in the hill-country of Naphtali, and Shechem in the hill-country of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (which is Hebron) in the hill-country of Judah.

8 And on the other side of Jordan by Jericho eastward, they assigned Bezer in the wilderness upon the plain out of the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead out of the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan out of the tribe of Manasseh.

And on the east side of Jordan at Jericho, they made selection of Bezer in the waste land, in the table-land, out of the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead out of the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan out of the tribe of Manasseh.

9 These were the cities appointed for all the children of Israel, and for the stranger sojourning among them, that whoever should kill [any] person unawares might flee thither, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, until he stood before the congregation.

These were the towns marked out for all the children of Israel and for the man from a strange country living among them, so that anyone causing the death of another in error, might go in flight there, and not be put to death by him who has the right of punishment for blood till he had come before the meeting of the people.