CHAPTER 20
so that anyone
who kills
another
unintentionally
or accidentally
may flee
there.
These will be
your refuge
from the avenger
of blood.
When someone flees
to
one
of these
cities,
stands
at the entrance
of the gate
of the city,
and states
his case
before its elders,
they are to bring
him into the city
and give
him a place
to live
among them.
Now if
the avenger
of blood
pursues him,
they must not
deliver
the manslayer
into his hands,
because
that man killed
his neighbor
accidentally
without
prior
malice.
He is to stay
in that
city
until
he stands
trial
before
the assembly
and until
the death
of the high
priest
serving
at that
time.
Then
the manslayer
may return
to his own home
in the city
from which
he fled."
So they set apart
Kedesh
in Galilee
in the hill country
of Naphtali,
Shechem
in the hill country
of Ephraim,
and Kiriath-arba
(that is,
Hebron)
in the hill country
of Judah.
And beyond
the Jordan,
east
of Jericho,
they designated
Bezer
on the wilderness
plateau
from the tribe
of Reuben,
Ramoth
in Gilead
from the tribe
of Gad,
and Golan
in Bashan
from the tribe
of Manasseh.
These
are
the cities
appointed
for all
the Israelites
and foreigners
among them,
so that anyone
who kills
a person
unintentionally
may flee
there
and not
die
by the hand
of the avenger
of blood
prior
to standing trial
before
the assembly.