¹The LORD spoke to Joshua , saying ,

²“Speak to the children of Israel , saying , ‘Assign the cities of refuge , of which I spoke to you by Moses ,

³that the man slayer who kills any person accidentally or unintentionally may flee there . They shall be to you for a refuge from the avenger of blood .

⁴He shall flee to one of those cities , and shall stand at the entrance of the gate of the city , and declare his case in the ears of the elders of that city . They shall take him into the city with them , and give him a place , that he may live amongst them .

⁵If the avenger of blood pursues him , then they shall not deliver up the man slayer into his hand ; because he struck his neighbour unintentionally , and didn’t hate him before .

⁶He shall dwell in that city until he stands before the congregation for judgement, until the death of the high priest that shall be in those days . Then the man slayer shall return , and come to his own city , and to his own house , to the city he fled from .’”

⁷They set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali , Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath Arba (also called Hebron ) in the hill country of Judah .

⁸Beyond the Jordan at Jericho eastward , they assigned Bezer in the wilderness in the plain out of the tribe of Reuben , Ramoth in Gilead out of the tribe of Gad , and Golan in Bashan out of the tribe of Manasseh .

⁹These were the appointed cities for all the children of Israel , and for the alien who lives amongst them , that whoever kills any person unintentionally might flee there , and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood , until he stands trial before the congregation .