12 The cities shall be for you a refuge from the avenger, that the manslayer may not die until he stands before the congregation for judgment.

6 lest ^sthe avenger of blood in hot anger pursue the manslayer and overtake him, because the way is long, and strike him fatally, though the man did not deserve to die, since he had not hated his neighbor in the past.

3 that the manslayer who strikes any person without intent or unknowingly may flee there. They shall be for you a refuge from the avenger of blood. 4 He shall flee to one of these cities and shall stand ^kat the entrance of the gate of the city and explain his case to the elders of that city. Then they shall take him into the city and give him a place, and he shall remain with them. 5 And if the avenger of blood pursues him, they shall not give up the manslayer into his hand, because he struck his neighbor unknowingly, and did not hate him in the past. 6 And he shall remain in that city ^luntil he has stood before the congregation for judgment, until the death of him who is high priest at the time. Then the manslayer may return to his own town and his own home, to the town from which he fled.’”

19 ^eThe avenger of blood shall himself put the murderer to death; when he meets him, he shall put him to death.

24 then ^hthe congregation shall judge between the manslayer and ^ethe avenger of blood, in accordance with these rules. 25 And the congregation shall rescue the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to his city of refuge to which he had fled, and he shall live in it ⁱuntil the death of the high priest ^jwho was anointed with the holy oil. 26 But if the manslayer shall at any time go beyond the boundaries of his city of refuge to which he fled, 27 and ^ethe avenger of blood finds him outside the boundaries of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the manslayer, he shall not be guilty of blood.

11 “But if anyone hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and attacks him ^xand strikes him fatally so that he dies, and he flees into one of these cities, 12 then the elders of his city shall send and take him from there, and hand him over to the avenger of blood, so that he may die.

9 These were the cities designated for all the people of Israel and ^tfor the stranger sojourning among them, that anyone who killed a person without intent could flee there, so that he might not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, till he stood before the congregation.

2 “Say to the people of Israel, ^j‘Appoint the cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses,

7 And his armor-bearer said to him, “Do all that is in your heart. Do as you wish.¹ Behold, I am with you heart and soul.”