Then Jehovah spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying,

Command the children of Israel to give to the Levites some of the inheritance of their possession, cities to dwell in; and you shall give to the Levites pasture lands around their cities.

And the cities shall be for them to dwell in, and their pasture lands shall be for their cattle and for their livestock and for all their animals.

And the pasture lands of the cities which you shall give to the Levites shall be from the city wall and outward, a thousand cubits all around.

And you shall measure from the outside of the city on the east side two thousand cubits and on the south side two thousand cubits and on the west side two thousand cubits and on the north side two thousand cubits, with the city in the center. This shall be their pasture lands for the cities.

And the cities which you shall give to the Levites shall be the six cities of refuge, which you shall give for the manslayer to flee to; and besides them you shall give forty-two cities.

All the cities which you shall give to the Levites shall be forty-eight cities, them and their pasture lands.

And concerning the cities which you shall give from the possession of the children of Israel, from the larger tribe you shall take a larger number, and from the smaller tribe you shall take a smaller number; each one, according to its inheritance which they will inherit, shall give some of its cities to the Levites.

Then Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan,

Then you shall designate for yourselves cities to be your cities of refuge, so that the manslayer who kills any person unintentionally may flee there.

And the cities shall be for you as a refuge from the avenger, so that the manslayer may not die unless he stands before the assembly for judgment.

And the cities which you shall give shall be your six cities of refuge.

You shall give three cities across the Jordan, and you shall give three cities in the land of Canaan; they shall be cities of refuge.

For the children of Israel and for the stranger and for the sojourner among them, these six cities shall be for refuge, so that anyone who kills a person unintentionally may flee there.

But if he struck him with an instrument of iron, and he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death.

And if he struck him with a stone in hand, by which one could die, and he did die, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death.

Or if he struck him with a wooden object in hand, by which one could die, and he did die, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death.

The avenger of blood himself shall put the murderer to death; when he encounters him, he shall put him to death.

And if he pushed him out of hatred or threw something upon him while lying in wait, and he died,

Or in enmity struck him with his hand, and he died, 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.

But if he pushed him suddenly without enmity, or threw upon him anything without lying in wait,

Or came upon him with any stone, by which someone could die, without seeing him and dropped it upon him, and he died, when he was not his enemy and did not seek his harm,

Then the assembly shall judge between the slayer and the avenger of blood according to these ordinances.

And the assembly shall deliver the manslayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and the assembly shall return him to his city of refuge to which he had fled; and he shall dwell in it until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil.

But if the manslayer shall at any time go beyond the boundary of his city of refuge to which he has fled,

And the avenger of blood finds him outside the boundary of his city of refuge and the avenger of blood slays the manslayer, he shall not have guilt for blood,

Because he should have remained in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest; but after the death of the high priest the manslayer shall return to the land of his possession.

And these things shall be for a statute of judgment to you throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

Whoever kills a person, the murderer shall be slain upon the testimony of witnesses; but one witness shall not testify against any person so that he die.

Moreover you shall not take a ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall surely be put to death.

And you shall not take a ransom for one who has fled to his city of refuge, so that he may return to live in the land before the death of the high priest.

Thus you shall not pollute the land in which you are, for blood pollutes the land. And no expiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it.

And you shall not defile the land in which you are dwelling, in the midst of which I tabernacle; for I Jehovah tabernacle in the midst of the children of Israel.