1 And the LORD {YHWH, Covenant LORD} spoke to Joshua, saying {lemor: announcement formula},
2 Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, “Appoint for yourselves the cities of refuge {miklat: legal asylum} which I {YHWH, Lawgiver} commanded through Moses.”
3 The manslayer who strikes a person unintentionally {bishgagah: accidental act} without knowledge may flee there, and they shall be for you a refuge from the avenger {goel: kin claimant} of blood.
4 And he shall flee to one of these cities {ha-eleh: designated sanctuaries}, and shall stand at the entrance of the city gate and speak in the ears of the elders of that city his words; and they shall bring him into the city to themselves and give him a place {makom: safe refuge}, and he shall dwell with them.
5 If the avenger of blood {go’el hadam: family redeemer seeking justice} pursues him, the elders must not hand over the slayer into his hands, because he struck his neighbor without knowledge {da’at: conscious intent} and had not hated him previously.
6 And he shall dwell in that city until he stands before the assembly {edah: governing council} for judgment, and until the death of the high priest who shall be in those days. Then the killer {harotzeach: one who struck down} shall return to his city and to his house, to the city from which he fled.
7 So they consecrated {yaqdîšû: formally set apart} Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath Arba {qiryat arba: City of Arba}—it is Hebron—in the hill country of Judah.
8 And on the other side of the Jordan {yar-den: river boundary} east of Jericho, they designated Bezer in the wilderness {midbar: uninhabited land}, in 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 These were the appointed cities for all the sons of Israel and for the foreigner {ger: resident alien} living among them, so that anyone who struck a life unintentionally could flee there and not die at the hand of the avenger of blood {goel: family avenger} until he stood before the congregation.