Six Cities of Refuge (Numbers 35:9–34; Deuteronomy 4:41–43; Deuteronomy 19:1–14)
1 UST Then Yahweh said to Joshua, BSB BSB: Then the LORD said to Joshua,
2 UST “Tell the Israelite people that they should choose some cities to which people can flee in order to be safe, as I told Moses that you should do. BSB BSB: “Tell the Israelites to designate the cities of refuge, as I instructed you through Moses,
3 UST If someone kills another person accidentally, without intending to kill that person, then he can run to one of these cities and be safe. BSB BSB: so that anyone who kills another unintentionally or accidentally may flee there. These will be your refuge from the avenger of blood.
4 UST When that person arrives at the gate of one of those cities, he must stop there and tell the leaders of the city what happened.{ If they believe him,} they must allow him to enter the city, and they must give him a place to live among them. BSB BSB: When someone flees to one of these cities, stands at the entrance of the city gate, and states his case before its elders, they are to bring him into the city and give him a place to live among them.
5 UST Suppose some relative of the dead person comes to that city to try to take revenge by killing the person who fled. The leaders of that city must not allow the relative to take him away and kill him, because what happened was accidental. He did not hate that person in the past. BSB BSB: Now if the avenger of blood pursues him, they must not surrender the manslayer into his hand, because that man killed his neighbor accidentally without prior malice.
6 UST The person who killed someone must stay in the city where he fled until it holds a trial to decide his case.{ If they determine that the killing was accidental,} he must still stay there until the current high priest dies. Then the man may return safely to his own home.” BSB BSB: He is to stay in that city until he stands trial before the assembly and until the death of the high priest serving at that time. Then the manslayer may return to his own home in the city from which he fled.”
7 UST So the Israelites chose several cities where people could flee to be safe. They chose Kedesh in the region of Galilee, in the hill country where the tribe of Naphtali lived. They chose Shechem, in the hill country where the tribe of Ephraim lived. And they chose Kiriath Arba in the hill country where the tribe of Judah lived.(People now call that city Hebron.) BSB BSB: So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah.
8 UST They also chose some cities on the other side of the Jordan River, east of Jericho. They chose Bezer, on elevated land in the wilderness where the tribe of Reuben lived. They chose Ramoth in the region of Gilead, in the land where the tribe of Gad lived. And they chose Golan in the region of Bashan, where the tribe of Manasseh lived. BSB BSB: And beyond the Jordan, east of Jericho, they designated Bezer on the wilderness plateau from the tribe of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead from the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan from the tribe of Manasseh.
9 UST Any Israelite or any foreigner who lived among them who had killed someone accidentally was allowed to flee to one of those cities. There he would be safe from any relative of the dead person who wanted to come and kill him in revenge. He could stay in that city until the people there held a trial to decide whether he was telling the truth when he said that he did not kill that person on purpose. BSB BSB: These are the cities appointed for all the Israelites and foreigners among them, so that anyone who kills a person unintentionally may flee there and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood prior to standing trial before the assembly.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.