¹And the Lord spoke to Moses in the arid tracts of Moab, near the Jordan at Jericho, and he said, ²“Command the sons of Israel that they must give to the Levites a contribution from the inheritance which comes into their possession, cities to dwell in, and you must give pasture for the cities around them to the Levites. ³And the cities will be for them to dwell in, and the pasture lands will be for their cattle and for their property and for all their livestock. ⁴And the pastures of the cities which you will give to the Levites will measure one thousand cubits from the wall of the city outwards round about it. ⁵And you will measure from outside the city on the eastern side two thousand cubits, and on the southern side two thousand cubits, and on the western side two thousand cubits, and on the northern side two thousand cubits, with the city in the centre. This will be for their city pastures. ⁶And as for the cities which you will give to the Levites, there are six cities of refuge which you will give for the manslayer to flee to, and in addition to them you will give forty-two cities. ⁷All the cities which you will give to the Levites amount to forty-eight cities – them with their pasture lands. ⁸And as for the cities which you will give from the possessions of the sons of Israel, you will give more from him who has many, and give less from him who has few. Each will give from his cities to the Levites according to his inheritance which they inherit.” ⁹And the Lord spoke to Moses and said, ¹⁰“Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you cross the Jordan to the land of Canaan, ¹¹you will select suitable cities for yourselves. They will be your cities of refuge, and a manslayer – one who strikes a person by accident – will flee there. ¹²And they will be your cities of refuge from the avenger so that the manslayer does not die before he stands before the congregation for judgment. ¹³And the cities which you give will be your six cities of refuge. ¹⁴You will give three cities on the far side of the Jordan, and you will give three cities in the land of Canaan. They will be cities of refuge. ¹⁵These six cities will be for refuge – for the sons of Israel and for the foreigner and the temporary resident among them – for everyone who strikes a person by accident, to flee there. ¹⁶But if he strikes him with an iron implement, and he dies, he is a manslayer. The manslayer will certainly be put to death. ¹⁷And if it is the throwing of a stone by which he is killed – he strikes him, and he dies – he is a manslayer. The manslayer will certainly be put to death. ¹⁸Or if it is a wooden hand-instrument by which he is killed – he strikes him, and he dies – then he is a manslayer. The manslayer will certainly be put to death. ¹⁹The avenger of blood is the one who will kill the manslayer. When he meets with him, he will kill him. ²⁰And if he thrusts him through out of hatred or casts something at him on purpose, and he dies, ²¹or he strikes him with his hand out of enmity, and he dies, then the striker will certainly be put to death – he is a manslayer. The avenger of blood will kill the manslayer when he meets with him. ²²But if he accidentally without enmity thrusts him through or casts any item at him not on purpose, ²³or if it is by any stone that he is killed, not seeing him when he throws it on him, and he dies, and he is not at enmity with him, and he did not mean him harm, ²⁴then the congregation will judge between the striker and the avenger of blood according to these principles. ²⁵And the congregation may save the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation may refer him to his city of refuge where he fled to, and he will live in it until the death of the high priest who was anointed with holy oil. ²⁶But if the manslayer goes out at all from the boundary of his city of refuge to where he fled, ²⁷and the avenger of blood finds him, outside the boundary of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the manslayer, then he will not be guilty of blood. ²⁸For he must stay in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest, and after the death of the high priest, the manslayer may return to the land of his possession. ²⁹And these things will be a statute of justice to you for your generations in all your dwelling places. ³⁰As for anyone who strikes a person: on the testimony of witnesses one will execute the manslayer, but just one witness will not provide testimony against a person for conviction for him to be put to death. ³¹And you will not take a ransom for the life of the manslayer, who is punishable by death, for he will certainly be put to death. ³²And you will not take a ransom from anyone in exchange for fleeing to his city of refuge, so as to live in the land again, before the death of the priest. ³³And you will not defile the land which you are in, for it is the blood that defiles the land, and there is no expiation for the land of the blood which was shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it. ³⁴And you will not make the land which you are living in unclean, in the midst of which I dwell. For I, the Lord, dwell in the midst of the sons of Israel.’ ”