| 1 | Then the LORD said to Joshua, |
| 2 | "Say to the people of Israel, `Appoint the cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses, |
| 3 | that the manslayer who kills any person without intent or unwittingly 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 at 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 slayer into his hand; because he killed his neighbor unwittingly, having had no enmity against him in times past. |
| 6 | And he shall remain in that city until he has stood before the congregation for judgment, until the death of him who is high priest at the time: then the slayer may go again to his own town and his own home, to the town from which he fled.'" |