1 And the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Speaker} spoke to Moses on the plains {arvot: open countryside} of Moab by the Jordan near Jericho, saying,
2 Command the Israelites to give the Levites {Levi’im: priestly tribe} towns for dwelling and pastureland {migrash: grazing area} around those towns.
3 And the towns will be for them for dwelling {lashavet: permanent residence}, and their pasturelands will be for their cattle, for their possessions {r'khush: movable property}, and for all their living creatures.
4 And the pasturelands of the cities that you give to the Levites {leviyim: priestly tribe} shall extend outward from the city wall for a thousand cubits {ammah: Hebrew unit of length, about 18 inches} on every side.
5 And from outside the city you shall measure: on the east side two thousand cubits {alpayim: dual distance}, on the south side two thousand cubits, on the west side two thousand cubits, and on the north side two thousand cubits; with the city in the midst. This shall be for them the pasturelands {migrash: open green belt} of the towns.
6 And among the cities that you shall give to the Levites {Levi: priestly tribe} there shall be six cities of refuge {miklat: legal asylum} for the manslayer to flee to, and besides these you shall give forty-two additional cities.
7 The total of the cities you shall give to the Levites {leviyim: priestly tribe} shall be forty-eight cities, together with their pasturelands {migresheihen: open fields}.
8 And the cities you give shall come from the possession of the sons of Israel {benei-Yisrael: tribal descendants}. From a tribe with many cities you shall give more, and from a tribe with few cities you shall give fewer; each man shall give from his cities to the Levites according to his inheritance {nachalato: tribal allotment}.
9 And the LORD {YHWH, Law-Giver} spoke {diber: authoritative proclamation} to Moses, saying,
10 Speak to the sons of Israel {Yisrael: Covenant Community} and say to them, “When you cross the Jordan {ha-yarden: boundary river} into the land of Canaan.”
11 You shall appoint for yourselves cities of refuge {miklat: Protective Sanctuary}; they shall be for you, and the manslayer {rotseach: Accidental Manslayer} who strikes a person unintentionally may flee there.
12 And these cities shall serve as refuge for you from the avenger {goel: family redeemer}, so that the manslayer will not die until he stands before the assembly {edah: community gathering} for judgment.
13 And the cities which you will give {tittenu: you shall assign}—six cities of refuge {miklat: protected asylum}—shall be for you.
14 You shall set apart three cities in the region {meʿever: side beyond} of the Jordan, and three cities in the land of Canaan; they shall be cities of refuge {miklāt: protected sanctuary}.
15 These six cities shall be a refuge {miklat: protective sanctuary} for the sons of Israel, and for the sojourner {ger: legal resident} and the resident alien who dwells among them, so that anyone who strikes down a person unintentionally may flee there.
16 But if someone strikes another with an iron instrument {barzel: lethal implement} and the victim dies, that person is a murderer {rotseach: intentional killer}; the murderer must surely be put to death.
17 And if he strikes him with a stone {even: handheld weapon} in the hand—one that can cause death—and he dies, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death {yumat: mandatory capital punishment}.
18 Or if he strikes him with a wooden tool {keli: hand-held implement} in the hand that can bring death {yamut: fatal possibility}, and the person dies, he is a murderer; the murderer must be put to death.
19 The avenger of blood {go’el ha-dam: family redeemer} shall put the murderer {rotzéach: unlawful killer} to death; when he comes upon him, he shall put him to death.
20 And if a man pushes another with hatred {sinah: deep enmity}, or throws something at him from ambush {tsidiyah: deliberate ambush}, and he dies.
21 Or if he strikes him with his hand in enmity and he dies, the one who struck shall surely be put to death; he is a murderer. The avenger of blood {goel hadam: family avenger} shall put the murderer to death when they meet {b’figo-vo: personal encounter}.
22 But if suddenly and without enmity {eivah: hostility}, he pushes him or throws any object upon him without ambush {tsidiyyah: lying in wait}.
23 Or if, without seeing {belo-reot: absent notice}, he causes a stone to fall upon him—one by which a person may die—and he dies, though he was not an enemy to him nor seeking his harm {ra’ato: intent to injure}.
24 Then the assembly {haedah: community council} shall decide between the striker and the avenger of blood, according to these judgments {hamishpatim: binding decisions}.
25 And the congregation {edah: Covenant Assembly} shall rescue the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall bring him back to the city of his refuge where he fled; and he shall live there until the death of the high priest {hakohen haggadol: Chief Mediator}, who anointed him with the holy oil.
26 But if at any time the manslayer {harotzeach: unintentional killer} goes out {yatzo: breaches protection} beyond the boundary of the city of his refuge to which he had fled,
27 And if the avenger of blood {goel hadam: Redeemer Executing Justice} finds him outside the boundary of his city of refuge and kills the manslayer {rotzeach: Taker of Life}, there is no bloodguilt for him.
28 For he must remain in the city of his refuge until the death of the high priest {ha-kohen ha-gadol: chief religious leader}; and after the death of the high priest, the manslayer shall return to the land {eretz: ancestral territory} of his possession.
29 And these things shall be for you a statute of judgment {mishpat: binding legal decision} throughout your generations, in all your dwellings {moshav: settled places, homes}.
30 Whoever kills a person shall be put to death as a murderer {ha-rotseach: unlawful killer} on the testimony of witnesses; but no one shall be put to death on the testimony of a single witness {echad: sole observer}.
31 And you shall not accept any ransom for the life {nephesh: life value} of a murderer deserving death {rasha: deserving death}, for he must certainly be put to death.
32 You shall not take a ransom {kofer: redemption payment} from 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 {ha-kohen: chief priest}.
33 And you shall not pollute the land {erets: physical territory} where you dwell, for blood {dam: life-force} defiles the land; and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that has been shed in it except by the blood of the one who shed it.
34 And you shall not defile the land where you dwell, the land in which I dwell; for I, the LORD {YHWH, Indwelling Presence}, dwell in the midst of the children of Israel {bene yisra'el: covenant people}.