Iosue 20

1 et locutus est Dominus ad Iosue dicens loquere filiis Israhel et dic eis

Then Yahweh said to Joshua,

2 separate urbes fugitivorum de quibus locutus sum ad vos per manum Mosi

“Tell the Israeli people that they should choose some cities to which people [can run] in order to be safe/protected, like I told Moses that they should do.

3 ut confugiat ad eas quicumque animam percusserit nescius et possit evadere iram proximi qui ultor est sanguinis

If someone kills another person accidentally, not intending to kill that person, the one who killed that person may run/escape to one of these cities and be safe/protected from someone trying to get revenge for that person’s death [MTY].

4 cum ad unam harum confugerit civitatum stabitque ante portam civitatis et loquetur senioribus urbis illius ea quae se conprobent innocentem sicque suscipient eum et dabunt ei locum ad habitandum

When the one who killed someone arrives at the gate of one of those cities, he must stop there and tell the leaders of the city what happened. [If they believe him], they must allow him to enter the city, and they must give him a place to live among them.

5 cumque ultor sanguinis eum fuerit persecutus non tradent in manus eius quia ignorans percussit proximum eius nec ante biduum triduumve eius probatur inimicus

If some relative of the one who was killed comes to that city to get revenge, the leaders of that city must not allow the relative to take the killer, because what happened was accidental. He did not hate that person and as a result deliberately kill him.

6 et habitabit in civitate illa donec stet ante iudicium causam reddens facti sui et moriatur sacerdos magnus qui fuerit in illo tempore tunc revertetur homicida et ingredietur civitatem et domum suam de qua fugerat

But the person who killed someone must stay in that city until the city judges put him on trial. [Only if the judges decide that the person who has run/escaped to their city did not deliberately kill the other person will they allow him to stay in that city], and he must stay there until the Supreme Priest dies. Then he may safely go back to his own town, [because the death of the Supreme Priest will be considered to atone/pay for the death of the person who was killed].”

7 decreveruntque Cedes in Galilea montis Nepthali et Sychem in monte Ephraim et Cariatharbe ipsa est Hebron in monte Iuda

So the Israelis chose these cities to be cities to which people could run to be safe/protected: Kedesh in the Galilee district in the hilly area where the tribe of Naphtali lived; Shechem in the hilly area where the tribe of Ephraim lived; Kiriath-Arba (which is [now named] Hebron) in the hilly area where the tribe of Judah lived;

8 et trans Iordanem contra orientalem plagam Hiericho statuerunt Bosor quae sita est in campestri solitudine de tribu Ruben et Ramoth in Galaad de tribu Gad et Gaulon in Basan de tribu Manasse

Bezer, on the east side of the Jordan [River] near Jericho, in the flat land in the desert where the tribe of Reuben lived; Ramoth in the Gilead [region] in the land where the tribe of Gad lived; and Golan in the Bashan region where the tribe of Manasseh lived.

9 hae civitates constitutae sunt cunctis filiis Israhel et advenis qui habitant inter eos ut fugeret ad eas qui animam nescius percussisset et non moreretur in manu proximi effusum sanguinem vindicare cupientis donec staret ante populum expositurus causam suam

Any Israeli or any foreigner who lived among us, anyone who killed someone (accidentally/without planning to do it), was allowed to run to one of those cities, and be safe/protected from some relative of the person who died coming there and killing him to get revenge. He could stay in that city until there was a trial there [to decide whether he was telling the truth or not when he said that he did not plan to kill that person].