Cities of Refuge

¹When YHWH your God cuts off the nations whose land YHWH your God gives you, and you succeed them and dwell in their cities and in their houses,

²you are to set apart three cities for yourselves in the middle of your land, which YHWH your God is giving you to possess.

³You are to prepare the roads, and divide the borders of your land which YHWH your God causes you to inherit into three parts, that every man slayer may flee there.

⁴This is the case of a murderer who flees there and live: Whoever kills their neighbor unintentionally, and didn’t hate them beforehand—

⁵as when a man goes into the forest with his neighbor to chop wood and his hand swings the ax to cut down the tree, and the head slips from the handle and hits his neighbor so that he dies—he may flee to one of these cities and live.

⁶Otherwise, the avenger of blood might pursue the man slayer while hot anger is in his heart and overtake him, because the way is long, and strike him mortally, even though he was not worthy of death, because he didn’t hate him in time past.

⁷Therefore I command you to set apart three cities for yourselves.

⁸If YHWH your God enlarges your border, as he has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land which he promised to give to your fathers;

⁹and if you keep all this commandment to do it, which I command you today, to love YHWH your God, and to walk ever in ʜɪꜱ ways, then you are to add three cities more for yourselves, in addition to these three.

¹⁰This is so that innocent blood will not be shed in the middle of your land which YHWH your God gives you for an inheritance, leaving blood guilt on you.

¹¹But if any man hates his neighbor, lies in wait for him, rises up against him, strikes him mortally so that he dies, and he flees into one of these cities;

¹²then the elders of his city are to send for him, and deliver him to the hand of the avenger of blood to die.

¹³Your eye must not pity him, but you are ot purge the innocent blood from Israel that it may go well with you.

¹⁴You must not remove your neighbor’s landmark, which they of old time have set, in your inheritance which you receive, in the land that YHWH your God gives you to possess.

Laws About Witnesses

¹⁵One witness can not rise up against a person for an iniquity or sin they have committed. A matter must be established by testimony of two or three witnesses.

¹⁶If an unrighteous witness rises up against someone to accuse them of wrongdoing,

¹⁷then both the parties to the controversy, must stand before YHWH, before the priests and the judges in those days;

¹⁸and the judges are to make diligent inquisition. If the witness is a false witness, and has testified falsely against his brother,

¹⁹then y’all are do to him as he had thought to do to his brother. You must purge the evil from among you.

²⁰Those who remain will hear this and be afraid, and they will never again commit any such evil among you.

²¹Your eyes must not pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.