1 The LORD spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, opposite Jericho, saying, 2 “Command the Israelites to give the Levites cities to live in from their inherited possession. You shall also give the Levites the pasturelands around the cities. 3 The cities shall be theirs to live in, and their pasturelands shall be for their livestock, their flocks, and all their animals. 4 The pasturelands of the cities you give the Levites shall extend from the city wall outward about fifteen hundred feet all around. 5 Outside the city you shall measure about three thousand feet on the east side, about three thousand feet on the south side, about three thousand feet on the west side, and about three thousand feet on the north side, with the city in the middle. These shall be their pasturelands for the cities. 6 The cities you give the Levites shall include the six cities of refuge that you provide for the killer to flee to, and in addition to them you shall give forty-two cities. 7 All the cities you give the Levites shall be forty-eight cities, together with their pasturelands. 8 The cities you give shall come from the Israelites’ possession. From those who have much you shall take more, and from those who have little you shall take less. Each shall give some of his cities to the Levites according to the inheritance he receives.”

9 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 10 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them, ‘When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 11 you shall designate cities for yourselves. They shall be cities of refuge for you, where a killer who has killed a person unintentionally may flee. 12 The cities shall be a refuge for you from the avenger, so that the killer may not die before standing before the congregation for judgment. 13 The cities you provide shall be six cities of refuge for you. 14 You shall provide three cities beyond the Jordan and three cities in the land of Canaan. They shall be cities of refuge. 15 These six cities shall be a refuge for the Israelites, for the foreigner and the resident among them, where anyone who kills a person unintentionally may flee. 16 But if he strikes him with an iron object and he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer shall surely be put to death. 17 If he strikes him with a stone held in the hand that could cause death, and he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer shall surely be put to death. 18 Or if he strikes him with a wooden object held in the hand that could cause death, and he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer shall surely be put to death. 19 The avenger of blood himself shall put the murderer to death. When he encounters him, he himself shall put him to death. 20 If he pushes him out of hatred or throws something at him with intent and he dies, 21 or if in enmity he strikes him with his hand and he dies, the one who struck him shall surely be put to death. He is a murderer. The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when he encounters him. 22 But if he pushes him suddenly without enmity or throws any object at him without intent, 23 or, without seeing him, drops on him any stone that could cause death, and he dies, though he was not his enemy and was not seeking his harm, 24 the congregation shall judge between the one who struck and the avenger of blood according to these judgments. 25 The congregation shall rescue the killer from the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall return him to the city of refuge to which he fled. He shall live in it until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil. 26 But if the killer does go outside the boundary of the city of refuge to which he fled, 27 and the avenger of blood finds him outside the boundary of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the killer, he shall have no bloodguilt. 28 For he must live in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. After the death of the high priest, the killer may return to the land of his possession. 29 These shall be a statute of judgment for you throughout your generations, in all your dwelling places. 30 If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the testimony of witnesses. But a single witness shall not testify against a person for a sentence of death. 31 You shall not accept a ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death. He shall surely be put to death. 32 You shall not accept a ransom for one who has fled to his city of refuge, to let him return to live in the land before the death of the priest. 33 You shall not pollute the land where you are, for blood pollutes the land. No atonement can be made for the land for the blood shed in it except by the blood of the one who shed it. 34 You shall not defile the land where you live, in the midst of which I dwell, for I, the LORD, dwell among the Israelites.’ ”