1 Then the Loʀᴅ spoke to Joshua, saying, 2 “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘1Lit Set for yourselvesDesignate ANum 35:6-34; Deut 4:41-43; 19:2ffthe cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you 2Lit by the hand ofthrough Moses, 3 that the manslayer who 1Lit smiteskills any person unintentionally, without premeditation, may flee there, and they shall become your refuge from the avenger of blood. 4  ‘He shall flee to one of these cities, and shall stand at the entrance of the ARuth 4:1; Job 5:4; Jer 38:7gate of the city and state his case in the hearing of the elders of that city; and they shall 1Lit gathertake him into the city to them and give him a place, so that he may dwell among them. 5  ‘Now ANum 35:12if the avenger of blood pursues him, then they shall not deliver the manslayer into his hand, because he struck his neighbor without premeditation and did not hate him beforehand. 6  ‘He shall dwell in that city ANum 35:12until he stands before the congregation for judgment, until the death of the one who is high priest in those days. Then the manslayer shall 1Lit return and comereturn to his own city and to his own house, to the city from which he fled.’ ”

7 So they 1Lit sanctifiedset apart AJosh 21:32; 1 Chr 6:76Kedesh in 2Heb GalilGalilee in the hill country of Naphtali and Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in BJosh 21:11; Luke 1:39the hill country of Judah. 8 Beyond the Jordan east of Jericho, they 1Lit setdesignated Bezer in the wilderness on the plain from the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead from the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan from the tribe of Manasseh. 9 ANum 35:13ffThese were the appointed cities for all the sons of Israel and for the stranger who sojourns among them, that whoever 1Lit smiteskills any person unintentionally may flee there, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood until he stands before the congregation.