1And Yahweh spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho, saying:
2“Command the sons of Israel that they give to the Levites, from the inheritance of their possession, cities to dwell in; and pastureland around the cities you shall give to the Levites.
3The cities shall be theirs to dwell in, and their pasturelands shall be for their cattle and for their goods and for all their livestock.
4The pasturelands of the cities that you shall give to the Levites shall extend from the wall of the city outward a thousand cubits all around.
5You shall measure outside the city on the east side two thousand cubits, and on the south side two thousand cubits, and on the west side two thousand cubits, and on the north side two thousand cubits, with the city in the center. This shall be theirs as the pasturelands of the cities.
6As for the cities that you shall give to the Levites: the six cities of refuge that you shall give for the slayer to flee to there, and in addition to them you shall give forty-two cities.
7All the cities that you shall give to the Levites shall be forty-eight cities—them and their pasturelands.
8And as for the cities that you shall give from the possession of the sons of Israel: from the many you shall take more, and from the few you shall take less; each shall give of his cities to the Levites in proportion to his inheritance that he inherits.”
9And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:
10“Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them: When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan,
11you shall designate for yourselves cities; they shall be cities of refuge for you, so that a slayer who strikes down a person unintentionally may flee there.
12The cities shall be for you a refuge from the avenger, so that the slayer does not die until he stands before the assembly for judgment.
13And the cities that you give—six cities of refuge—shall be for you.
14Three of the cities you shall give beyond the Jordan, and three of the cities you shall give in the land of Canaan; they shall be cities of refuge.
15For the sons of Israel and for the sojourner and for the resident alien among them these six cities shall be for refuge, so that anyone who strikes down a person unintentionally may flee there.
16But if he struck him with an iron object so that he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death.
17Or if he struck him with a hand-stone by which one could die, so that he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death.
18Or if he struck him with a hand-held wooden object by which one could die, so that he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death.
19The avenger of blood himself shall put the murderer to death; when he meets him, he himself shall put him to death.
20And if out of hatred he shoved him, or hurled something at him by lying in wait, so that he died,
21or struck him with his hand in enmity, so that he died, the one who struck him shall surely be put to death; he is a murderer. The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when he meets him.
22But if he shoved him suddenly, without enmity, or hurled any object at him without lying in wait,
23or with any stone by which one could die, without seeing him, and dropped it on him so that he died—while he was not his enemy and was not seeking his harm—
24then the assembly shall judge between the one who struck and the avenger of blood according to these ordinances.
25And the assembly shall deliver the slayer from the hand of the avenger of blood, and the assembly shall return him to his city of refuge to which he had fled; and he shall dwell in it until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil.
26But if the slayer ever goes out beyond the border of his city of refuge to which he had fled,
27and the avenger of blood finds him outside the border of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the slayer, there is no bloodguilt for him.
28For he must remain in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest; and after the death of the high priest the slayer may return to the land of his possession.
29And these things shall be for you a statute of judgment throughout your generations, in all your dwellings.
30Anyone who strikes down a person—the murderer shall be put to death on the testimony of witnesses; but a single witness shall not testify against a person so as to put him to death.
31You shall not accept a ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, for he shall surely be put to death.
32And you shall not accept a ransom for one who has fled to his city of refuge, allowing him to return to dwell in the land before the death of the priest.
33You shall not pollute the land in which you are, for blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land, for the blood that was shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it.
34You shall not defile the land in which you dwell, in whose midst I dwell; for I, Yahweh, dwell in the midst of the sons of Israel.
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